Fallout: Child of Atom: Remastered edition
by SentientSurfer
Summary: In 2297, 220 years after the great nuclear apocalypse, the highwayman Dameon 'Demon' Rayes wanders the vast, urban desert the bombs left behind. During his travels he comes across a beautiful orphan, a shadow government, and the clues to an ancient mystey
1. Chapter 1

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**A/N: This is a reformatted / re-mastered version of my story Fallout: Child of Atom, originally posted back in July of 2009. One of the updates to FanFiction deleted all of the scene breaks which made it much harder to follow the story. Below is a re-edited version of the original story. I have also re-edited the sequel to this story, Child of Atom 2: The Raptors of Ronto, and Lords of the Pitt, both of which can be found on my profile.**

**I hope you enjoy.**

**P.S.: I'd like to send out a special thanks to those who reviewed the original Child of Atom as those reviews have now been deleted. So thank you to: WaWaBoy2, Caracaos, Shrine Keeper of Rei Ayanami, Houkou, PacificUser, and NewAgeWriter. **

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In 2297, 220 years after the great nuclear apocalypse, the highwayman Dameon 'Demon' Rayes wanders the vast, urban desert the bombs left behind. During his travels he comes across a beautiful orphan, a shadow government, and the clues to an ancient mystery that may prove to be the key to mankind's salvation. . .or the remnants of its greatest curse.

**Part I: The Wasteland**

Chapter 1: The Demon

Dust caked on Dameon's forehead. A layer of black, sooty grime. He coughed into the thick, still air. A bead of sweat dripped down, a gray streak on his forehead. It fell onto the breast plate of the dead Outcast below him with a drip, and then ran down onto the dim concrete floor. Dameon positioned the body slightly upright against the wall and sunk a long knife into its side. He waited for the click as the armor unfastened and mechanically popped away from the chest. He then peeled it off. Underneath, the dead man's undershirt was a deep red. Black blood solidified alongside two bullet holes near his heart. Dameon put the breast plate aside and lifted off his helmet. The dead man was young, in his twenties with wild, wiry blond hair. He stared at Dameon with empty black eyes, doll eyes. Dameon stared back for a moment and then tossed the armor onto a pile of bloody armor he had stacked at the end of the corridor.

Twelve dead Outcast soldiers lay across the corridor and in the three adjoining rooms. Dameon had stripped half of them nearly naked and their weapons leaned against each other forming a teepee on the floor. Blood oozed down the walls and dust slowly fell from the ceiling. The lights buzzed off for a second before flickering back on.

_Perhaps struck a generator in the chaos?_

Dameon wiped his dirty forehead again. Instead of cleaning his brow he smeared blood onto it. The blood ran into his eyes, stinging them.

"Meh," Dameon rubbed his eyes on his coat collar and walked over silently to one of the adjacent rooms.

The room was full of office cubicles, each with its own desktop terminal. Dameon went up to one of the terminals and inserted a blank holotape into the drive. The fan kicked in and with a whirring purr the holotape began to upload and copy the all of the terminal's data. Dameon peered at the screen as the data flashed by as it was copied.

_Detailed instructions on the use, maintenance, and operation of various Outcast_ _weaponry_. _A tactical assessment of Fort Bannister. Operational strength of the DC Outcasts. New order to recover 'H2' from Fairfax._

The holotape quickened speed and the words turned into a blur. Dameon looked to his right and noticed a locked steel door he had missed in the corner. Next to it was a wall terminal. He walked up to the terminal, pressed a clear, sticky microchip against its screen and began to manually hack it. Once granted system access, he selected the door. It creaked open.

Dameon peered into the new room. A single bulb illuminated it from above. The armory. Assault rifles, RPGs, laser rifles, grenades, and boxes upon boxes of ammo had been placed in neat angels all over the room, meticulously setup by the Outcasts. Dameon picked up one of the rifles and peered down the barrel. He then heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs at the end of the hallway

Chapter 2: Gold Ribbon Grocer

Chloe pushed a sugary Twinkie into her mouth. She felt the warm burn of the sugar's glazing intermix with the slow burn of minor radiation. She then wiped her mouth clean as her mother, Amanda, watched her with a look of amusement and disgust.

Chloe laughed, "Sorry mom, can Emily and I quit early tonight?"

"Sure, it's been very slow today. Just straighten out all of our inventory and you and your sister can go relax," Amanda wiped down the front counter of the Gold Ribbon Grocer.

Emily began to straighten up boxes with a smile. She and her sister could get off early and listen to Three Dog before going to bed.

The Gold Ribbon was one of the few vendors left in the desert. It sold whatever Amanda and the girls could find. Boxed and canned food made before the war, an occasion gun, various mechanical parts, assorted odds and ends. It was one of four shattered structures left on the road to Jury Street, and the only one that still had a roof. A lone beacon in an empty, churning desert.

Emily and Chloe continued fixing up the shop. Chloe bent down to clean a wad of gum off the floor.

There was a loud blast outside.

The women froze. Chloe ran over to Emily. Amanda motioned for the girls to hide. She then crept over to the window.

"What was that?" Emily whispered.

Amanda could sense her daughters' fear. She peered out of the store window, into the darkness.

_Raiders_.

Amanda watched as they quickly walked towards her store. Most were half dressed in crude plates of metal armor, leather, or whatever else they could scavenge, woven into an ugly mix of gladiator and junkyard bum. One wore a copper fireman's hat with a welding helmet, another had on a spiked cuirass. A raider in the rear gestured for the others to spread out. He wore a green combat helmet on top of his bald head.

_He must be the leader. . .They're too close now._

Amanda was alone out here tonight. She leaned back and tried to scout out a place for her daughters to hide.

The raiders began to bang on the door.

Chloe screamed_._

_BOOM!_

The door shattered apart and came down in a cloud of dust. The raiders jumped inside and the women could hear the shouts of more than a dozen men, followed by howls of laughter. The raider in the green helmet walked over to Amanda cautiously. He readied his hand on his submachine gun.

"Please, please," Amanda tried to put on a smile, "Just take anything you need and leave us alone."

"Don't worry," the raider in the green helmet smiled.

The room was silent and still for a second. Chloe couldn't catch her breath, her lungs could have burst. The other raiders froze without orders. Chloe watched as the lead raider broke the stalemate.

"Anything we need!. . . you heard the woman," he let out a laugh. The other raiders began to chuckle and fan out across the store. They shoved anything of value into large canvas sacks. Tins of Spam, Twinkies, potato crisps, pep, dirty water, and nuka-cola. Everything Emily and Chloe has so painstakingly set up over the past hour. They worked with a greedy efficiency in a careless and loud rush.

Chloe grabbed Emily's hand. A female raider with a dented steel helmet walked in front of them, and pointed a handgun straight at their heads. She had a broad beaming smile on her face. She was enjoying this. Chloe glared at her, her cheeks burning with rage.

"Hey, there's nothing here but junk and shitty beer!" a short raider called out to the one in the green helmet. He took a large swig from a beer bottle.

"Please," Amanda saw the fear on her daughters' faces. She stepped towards the female raider with an outstretched hand.

"Get the fuck back from her!" the man in the green helmet shouted to Amanda.

Amanda stopped for a moment and tried to calm her daughters with her face. She then took one step towards them, trying to touch Chloe's hand.

The raider with the green helmet raised his submachine gun and fired once. He hit Amanda in the chest and she collapsed. Blood began to seep onto the floor. Chloe screamed. A few of the raiders in the store paused while the rest mindlessly continued to loot.

"Stupid bitch couldn't listen to shit," the female raider laughed, her gun still trained on Chloe and Emily.

The short raider raised a heavy, cumbersome bag. He walked over to Amanda's body.

"A shame, Dom," he looked to the raider in the green helmet, "could have gotten a good price."

"Yeah," Dom holstered his submachine gun, "but that carton of cigarettes in your sac is worth more than she could ever fetch. Good enough haul for the night."

The raiders were nearly done looting. Emily was shaking and was as white as the moon. She sat in the corner behind the counter, looking down at the floor. Chloe had crawled over to her mother. Amanda was still breathing shallowly, her breath gurgled.

"Chloe," she whispered.

"Please mom, please don't die," Chloe cried over the laughter of some of the raiders, "Please"

"Listen," her mother said softly.

"Please" Chloe couldn't talk.

"Listen..." her mother continued, "Try to stay alive...stay alive for me," she said before her eyes closed. Chloe began to sob.

"Shut that bitch up," the short raider spat. He walked over to Emily and grabbed a fistful of her blond hair. She was awoken from her shock and screamed out in pain. Chloe went to stand up and the female raider slapped her hard in the face, stunning her.

"I'll take the girls with me. . .to the market in Paradise Falls. What are they worth to you?" the short raider asked Dom.

Dom watched as Emily struggled in the little raider's iron grip. He was pulling her hair out as she struggled. He then looked to his rear where the female raider had just slapped Chloe. Chloe was now motionless on the floor, breathing rapidly, and staring up at Dom with glassed, red eyes.

"You take the one you've got. Mina and I will take the other one," Dom said coolly.

"You sure?" the short raider let go of Emily and she dropped to the floor, "Quite a bit of trouble dragging her along."

"Don't separate us please," Chloe pleaded as the raider in the spiked cuirass grabbed Emily, and pushed her outside.

Chloe felt a woman's hand go around her throat. The female raider, Mina, began to choke her until she fell back to the floor.

"Don't worry about us," Dom said, looking down at Chloe, ". . . this should be fun."

Half of the raiders left with Emily, while Dom and the rest made sure they had stolen every last scrap of salvage or 'cargo' from the store. Chloe had crawled back to her mother's body. She crossed her mother's arms and then put her head down on her mother's chest.

"Why do you even want her?" Mina said, glancing down at Chloe. She smiled to Dom, and tried to look sweet, "you could always just fuck me."

"I have fucked you," Dom took a step away and loomed over Chloe, "Come on then. Stand up. Up."

Chloe slowly rose to her feet. She brushed her hair out of her eyes.

"You going to be trouble girl?"

Chloe stood silent. She sniffed and stared daggers into his eyes.

"Well now you know that she's bound to be," Mina leaned back into a table, grinning, eager to see what Dom would do next.

"I think she will be a good girl," Dom said, smiling, "Packed up?"

"Yeah," the other raiders shouldered their bags.

"Let's go."

They all exited the shop and began to hike into the dark night.

Chapter 3: Survival

The raiders set up camp a few miles away, near a small, narrow cave. Chloe had been here before. It was called, Callingman's Cave. The raiders lit a small fire near the cave mouth where it would be hard to spot from a distance. They were all drinking and laughing. They showed no sign of remorse. Happy as clams, greedily eating tins of Spam.

Chloe struggled to free her hands. Mina had tightly cuffed them behind her back to the point where it was painful. Mina had practically been giggling, laughing at her as she did this, which filled Chloe with rage. She tried to pull the cuffs off but they wouldn't flinch.

Dom noticed Chloe struggling out of the corner of his eye. He walked over to her and grabbed her left arm. Pain shot up through her body making her stand up. She struggled as Dom dragged her by her arm into the cave. Once deep enough inside, he unlocked the hand cuffs, and they fell with a thud to the dirt cave floor.

Chloe stepped backward and began to rub her raw wrists. They ached from where the tight handcuffs had pinched them together.

"Sorry. . .Mina can get a little. . .jealous," Dom smiled to Chloe. He paused "What about you?"

Chloe remained silent. She could have said anything at that moment but she was worried that if she did open her mouth, she would involuntarily scream. It wouldn't be an ordinary scream, but the kind of ear-piercing torrent of obscenities and curses shouted by a crazed girl who would claw her captors to pieces. . .unless they shot her to death first.

"Silent type? Just scared?" Dom shrugged and began to take off his belt, "I don't need you to talk."

Chloe was awakened from her thoughts.

"No," she said sternly as Dom threw his belt to the side. "I won't let you," she stared at Dom and put on her toughest face.

This made Dom pause for a moment. Then he smiled, a compulsion, "If you say no that's one thing. . . It doesn't matter to me what you say or how you feel about it. But, if you try something on me... well that's different. If you try something I'm going to let Mina do all the horrible things to you that you know she wants to."

"I won't-" Chloe tried to sound forceful but her voice cracked. She closed her eyes for a second.

Dom sucked on his tongue.

Chloe opened her eyes and stared him down.

_Is he really going to do it in the middle of this cave? _

Dom smiled. He put his hands on Chloe's arms and pulled her into him.

He spoke right into her ear, "Come on now. What did your mom tell you?"

Chloe winced and clenched her teeth. She was a moment away from biting his ear off.

"You aren't going to stay alive unless you're obedient, okay?" He looked deeply into Chloe's eyes, "you don't know how many of you I've been through," he whispered.

Dom let go of Chloe. She staggered a few feet away and then sat down. She looked up and fingered the button of her jeans.

"I hate you," she muttered.

"I care," Dom laughed. He reached for her.

(**********************************************************************)

Amanda's smile beamed in the dawn light, "You look so wonderful."

Chloe rolled her eyes. She had seen this so many times before. She cocked her head and watched as Emily admired herself in the dented mirror. The girl's yellow dress flowed about her body.

"I do feel pretty it in," Emily chimed.

"Your gorgeous," Chloe smiled to her.

Amanda hugged Emily, "wear it today."

(**********************************************************************)

Chloe gasped. She felt the hot sting of irradiated water in her eyes. There was a small puddle nearby and Mina had thrown a cupful of the dirty water into her face as she slept.

"Get up slut, it's time to go," Mina laughed and looked back to the other raiders.

It was morning. Chloe was slow to stand. Her body ached and she was miserable. She didn't feel that she could live for another day like this.

"I said get up," Mina threw dirt at her.

"Chloe, I'm Chloe!" she stood and scowled at Mina.

Mina grabbed Chloe by the hair, "I don't care what your fucking name is!"

Chloe grabbed a fistful of Mina's hair and they struggled to the hoots of the other raiders. Mina was much stronger. She overpowered Chloe and forced her onto her stomach, pushing Chloe's face into the dirt. Chloe tried to move but couldn't breathe. She went limp.

"Enough Mina," Dom waived for Mina to get off of her.

Mina loosened her grip enough for Chloe to get a brief gulp of air. She then shoved Chloe's head back into the dirt around the cave, "You've fucked her, now we can get rid of her."

"She is still worth something. We can sell her," Dom picked up his rifle and prepared to move out. He looked out into the desert.

Mina's blood boiled. "How much is she worth to you? Fifty caps? A hundred caps? Take it out of my share of the Gold Ribbon," Mina smiled. She pulled a knife out of the back of her belt, "I want to do this, Dom."

Dom stood still for a minute. The other raiders looked at him inquisitively.

"A hundred caps," Dom thought about it, "why do you hate that girl so much? What has she done to you?"

Chloe began to struggle. Mina was kneeling over her; she put her knife up to Chloe's neck. Chloe went still. She glanced at Dom, who looked away from her burning gaze.

"Because" Mina pulled on Chloe's hair, pulling her head back and exposing all of her neck to the blade, "She's too pretty."

Chloe could feel Mina's hot breath on her cheek. Awful breath. She struggled against the pain from being pulled by the hair.

"Let her go," Dom said casually.

"Why?"

"BECAUSE I FUCKING TOLD YOU TO!" Dom shouted.

Mina let go of Chloe. She went limp on the ground, determined not to get up. She didn't move for a minute. The raiders began to walk away.

"Get up," Dom grabbed Chloe by the arm and pulled her over the bare, rocky ground.

Chloe lay limp.

"She's not dead," one of raiders volunteered, "I can see her breathing"

Dom let go of her and sighed. He cocked his pistol.

Chloe rose to her feet.

(**********************************************************************)

The raiders traveled lightly through the desert. Each only had as much as they could comfortably strap to themselves. They had little water; instead they had been drinking from the small pools of green, irradiated water that dotted the desert landscape. Radiation was a constant annoyance. The irradiated water tasted more metallic than purified, radiation free water. Not too bad on the taste buds, but it went down with a slight tingle – a slow burn that would make you spit blood if you drank more than a few swallows at a time. Nearly everyone had had to drink too much of it, the desert was as hot as the Sahara

The DC desert was like a moonscape covered with twisted metal, piles of rock and steel rubble, and the occasional free standing structure. Every building seemed to be leaning to the side in a state of disrepair. Nothing looked new. The contours and grooves of the horizon could be seen unobstructed; most of the ground was a desiccated flatness of sand and brown soil that only supported a few species of hardy, but inedible yellow scrub.

However, there were some pockets of immense beauty.

Dust swirled in the air.

"Shit!" the raider in point yelled back. The procession behind him abruptly stopped next to a large rubble pile. Chloe, who was near the back, was pushed down by one of the raiders. They all kneeled low to the ground and froze.

"What is it?" Dom called to the point man, "Mutant?"

"Dogs! Two of them," the man called back.

A rifle shot followed.

"Watch the left side!"

The raiders peered over the rocks. The point man had already shot one of the dogs. It collapsed in a heap against the rocks. Its companion had disappeared for the moment, while all of the raiders stared around the perimeter. They were poorly positioned inside a narrow canyon. The dog could pounce on them at any moment, from any direction. Starving feral dogs were always vicious and deadly.

"There it is!" a raider screamed as the dog leapt over the rocks and pounced right on him. He let out a yell as the animal began to maul him with blunt teeth. As he screamed, the other raiders began to beat the dog with bats and stab it with knives.

Within twenty seconds the dog and the raider were dead.

Chloe looked into the dead raider's eyes before they walked on. A young man with a green snake tattooed on his cheek.

"See," one of the raiders whispered to Chloe as he walked by, "you're lucky you have us to protect you."

The others laughed.

Chapter 4: The Sign Post

It was midday now. The sun was brutal on the raider gang. All of them were filthy and covered in mildly irradiated dust. The radiation burned like hot ash on the skin. It could cause boils within hours or poison your blood slowly over days.

The rads from the blowing sand were not a serious danger by themselves, but with enough radiation, your skin would begin to cook – killing you long before you could save yourself by flushing your system with an injection of radiation xenephenedrine.

The raiders made their way along a large sand dune. The skyline of the crumbling town of Fairfax lay on the horizon. It looked like a giant gray skeleton off in the distance.

"What is this?" a raider stopped and glanced at a large white rock on top of the dune.

"Huh," Dom walked over to him, "What's the fucking hold up?" he looked at the rock.

The rock had blue graffiti spray-painted on its face. It was an image. A circle with two triangles coming out of the top like horns. Inside of the circle was the letter D.

"Another faction?" the raider asked Dom.

"No," a shirtless raider spoke up, "It's the Demon."

"The Demon?" Mina stopped and whole procession glanced at the image.

"The Demon," one of the other raiders nodded.

"Whose he?"

"Some asshole," Dom lit up a cigarette and took a long drag, "killed a lot of us so he needs a fancy name. That's his tag. . .on our territory. Fucking. . .pretentious if you ask me."

A raider began to fiddle with his assault rifle, "maybe we should turn back. He could be in Fairfax already and ambush us as we arrive. We are carrying a lot of loot to get into a fight."

There were a few murmurs of agreement.

"No," Dom flicked his cigarette, "we're between MegaTon and TenPenny. He must have to take this route all the time. That mark could be weeks, even months old. I'm tired of being in the fucking sun. Besides, he wouldn't attack Fairfax. Too many of us, even for him."

The raiders continued on. Chloe paused by the rock and looked at the Demon's mark.

Chapter 5: Fairfax

"Hal? Rico? Sherry?" a gritty voice called down the dark corridor. The Outcast peered out into the darkness. His blood turned cold as he saw the bodies slumped against the wall.

"They're dead," he whispered to the other two Outcasts at his side.

Inside the armory, Dameon peered out from behind the door. He trained his assault rifle at the offices. He could hear the clicking footsteps of the Outcasts' power armored boots in the hallway getting louder. He paused, gingerly picked up a grenade from his side, and gently rolled it towards the door. It hit the doorframe and spun around in a circle, making a metallic clank.

"What was that?" the Outcasts froze. Hearing no explosion, they shuffled over towards the armory. Their rifles swept the offices for any sign of the intruder. Their blood was hot as they frantically panted; sweeping left and right, weighed down by heavy armor.

Dameon lay completely still in the back corner of the armory. The armory door was open slightly more than a crack, barely noticeable, just enough of a gap for him to see the grenade down his rifle scope. He closed his left eye and looked down the barrel. The footsteps drew nearer. One Outcast peered in, another was just behind him. They were bunched up around the doorway.

_Now, now is the moment._

Dameon squeezed his trigger finger. A shot rang out and the grenade filled the office with hot shrapnel and smoke.

(**********************************************************************)

It was nearly dusk by the time the raiders arrived in Fairfax. Chloe saw their relief when they realized that other raiders were still camping there. The old town only had six buildings standing, mainly around the main square. There was a tall church to the west. Raiders were perched in and atop these buildings, scanning the horizon down Highway 6 to Fort Independence.

Dom laughed and ran up to greet one of the raiders, who was warming by a bonfire.

"Haha, Dom!" the raider hugged him, "How have your travels been?"

"Better than you could imagine, Falcone. We just came from an amazing haul. The Gold Ribbon."

"What have you got?" Falcone scanned the new arrivals, "a bunch of cumbersome sacks and a doe-eyed desert girl?"

"The Gold Ribbon. A wasteland shop, we got everything," Dom beamed.

"Lots of caps?" Falcone asked in odd tone.

Dom paused. He looked at the local Fairfax raiders.

_Are they readying their weapons?_

Dom glanced back to his crew. He was not about to be cheated. Even by an old friend.

"Alcohol, _friend_?" Falcone smiled at Dom, "you owe me a bottle of scotch from ages ago."

"Yeah, I owe you A bottle of scotch."

(***********************************)

Dom's gang was separate from Falcone's, but Chloe deduced they were from the same faction. They had snakes carved into their armor or tattooed onto their skin. They had also spray-painted green pythons on the sides of Fairfax's crumbling buildings.

One of the raiders led Chloe alongside the bonfire at the center of Fairfax. To her right was a large animal cage, away from the fire, but shadowed from the slowly setting sun.

Chloe was lucky. The cage was empty. The raider locked her in it.

The raiders milled about and drank for a while. Chloe tried to keep sane in her position. She could not, absolutely could not, die like this, in this way. . .

Mina waived at Chloe while inhaling a capsule of jet. She smiled at Chloe, glassy-eyed from the high.

Inside the cage, Chloe closed her eyes and thought about anything and everything she knew other than this place. Her father, her sister, foreign country names she had been taught, what the surface of mars must look like, the taste of a desert pear, how Fairfax must have looked before the bombs fell.

The loud, drunken speech of the raiders intruded on her thoughts.

"How did you guys make out against the boys from the fort?" Dom asked Falcone.

"Not well, but after we bloodied them up enough they crawled back to Independence. Bunch of fucking pussies." Falcone boomed.

"Why'd they attack here anyway? They know we'll whoop em."

"Something Lux found in the church basement I think. Some kind of prewar cargo they wanted."

"Greedy Outcast bastards. Showed them. . . .But you know, could be a lot of loot in there. It's a damn fort – military stuff. If they're weak from the attack we could take em now."

There was a long pause.

Chloe was exhausted. She felt she might fall asleep.

"No," Falcone mused, "We're too low on men. Wait till Lux gets back here from Evergreen. . .Plus, those Outcasts aren't defenseless shopkeeper pussy. Hahaha. No, they have heavy weaponry, robotic guards, and a good position. . .although we didn't see any Outcasts posted out on guard this morning."

Chapter 6: Siege

Dameon balanced another rifle onto the teepee. Fifteen dead Outcasts, a dozen or so rifles, several RPGs, a minigun, and thousands of rounds of ammunition. He looked at the piles of cargo he had amassed.

_Too much to carry. Not even any point in stripping the last three._

He shrugged slightly and pulled out a cigarette. His blood stained hands bathed the cigarette a deep red. In disgust he threw it away and pulled out his last bottle of water. He washed off his hands and sipped on the irradiated drink. It burned his gums. He wrapped up as much of the cargo as he could lift and walked towards the bunker door.

Dameon then slowly emerged from the bunker of Fort Independence out into the dimly lit capital desert. It was dusk, and the sun was slowly drifting beyond the vast sandy plains to the west. He stayed low to prevent being sighted by Outcast, raider, or otherwise. He then drew a sniper rifle and scanned the area. There were three raiders perched atop one of the crumbling buildings of Fairfax less than a mile east. They were at the top of what appeared to be an old church spire. He fiddled with the scope to get a better look at them. Two men and one woman, dressed in their rag-tag armor. Too far to attempt a shot. He lowered the gun and heard a rustling behind him.

The rustling was coming from Tai, his companion. Tai was a big, fearsome looking German shepherd Dameon had found two years ago. The dog was chewing on the remnants of a football sized cockroach. Dameon looked away from him, over to where he had seen the raiders.

"Tai, here boy," Dameon put his left hand straight back behind him. This was a signal for Tai to follow. He had taught the dog to recognize five hand signals: stay, follow, attack, encircle, and home.

Tai cocked his head to the right while munching on a roach leg. He then let it fall from his jaws and fell back behind Dameon. Dameon heard a laugh echo down the road from Fairfax.

"Fucking raiders," Dameon pulled out the water bottle and slowly poured the liquid out of it, letting Tai lap it up as it fell. He pet the dog and then slowly began creeping up Highway 6 towards Fairfax.

Dameon paused. He and Tai ducked behind a dumpster on the approach to the main square of the town. Fairfax was on a slight hill, a hike up from the fort, so Dameon had been unable to see how many raiders were camping there. All he could make out were the three raiders perched in the church spire, and two others holed up around a small fire on the third story of a ruined apartment house. He counted them again. There were other voices up the hill; he could hear the dull murmurs of raiders unseen.

Dameon motioned for Tai to run around and flank the raiders from behind. Tai whined and then walked off into the darkness. The dog would know when the time was right. Dameon watched as the raider lookouts joked around with each other and took turns peering into the darkness. The sun disappeared over the horizon. Dameon held still until two of the lookouts stood directly in front of one another, perfectly in his line of sight. He then raised his weapon and squeezed the trigger.

(**********************************************************************)

Chloe opened her eyes, dazed. Nothing had changed; she was still locked in the cage. Well, the sun had gone down, that was different. Her face ached from an irradiated sunburn, the dust, and overexertion. The cage was too small for her stand. She could only stretch her legs by pushing them through the bars, and one of the local raiders had swiped at her toes with a knife the last time she tried. She was deathly thirsty, her lips were cracked and her tongue was like sandpaper.

She looked at the raider camp. Many of the raiders were now sleeping off their reunion party. Dom was sitting on a folding chair about fifty feet away, to the left of the bond fire. Mina was asleep with her head at his feet. Dom stared right past her for a moment and then stood up, looking for somewhere to relieve himself. Chloe watched as he walked off.

_What if I have to pee. . . No water anyway. . ._

Chloe leaned her head back against the rear bars of the cage. She saw the twinkle from a fire the raiders had lit on the top floor of one of the nearby buildings. As it came into focus, she noticed there was no one huddled around it, only darkness.

Chloe then cringed as she heard a burst of gunfire tear apart a raider standing on the road.

(**********************************************************************)

Dameon took down the first raider with a burst from his assault rifle. He then threw a belt of grenades as far as he could into the main square. It was instant chaos, the sleeping and intoxicated raiders began to stammer to their feet. Those already awake were trying to scatter across Fairfax. Before most could move three steps, the grenades detonated in a bright flash.

Most of the grenades were smoke grenades. The two fragmentation grenades in the belt burst into a shower of shrapnel. In the chaos, the raiders couldn't tell what was happening; they panicked. Dameon was able pick off all of the raiders who ran out of the smoke.

Until they began to return fire. . .

Dameon ran in a crouch over to the nearest building and fired out of a window frame. He could see the camp clearly again. His initial charge had cut down maybe half of the raider inhabitants. The rest had retreated north behind some buildings. They had piled up their cargo near the bonfire. There was a cage to the right with a young girl inside, maybe sixteen. He made brief eye contact with her before running around the back of the building and shooting at the raiders from their right flank.

Chloe watched the chaos unfurl. After the deafening bang from the grenade belt she was convinced that she had been killed. She lay motionless on the cage floor for a moment while her ears rang. When she opened her eyes and looked outside, all she could see was smoke. The noise and chaos from the explosion hadn't yet penetrated her ringing ears.

The smoke began to dissipate. There was gunfire everywhere. Chloe could see tracers arc across the main square. Some crashed into the bonfire with a puff. There was movement in the building to her left. The black blur of an unseen attacker disappeared into the blinding flash of an assault rifle blast.

"Retreat!" a raider screamed. Chloe saw four raiders including Dom run behind one of the nearby buildings.

_Escape? _

Chloe tried the bars on her cage, but the grenade hadn't affected them.

About a hundred feet away from Chloe, Mina tried to rise to her feet. She was bloody and wobbly. She had been hit with shrapnel and struggled to stand. Before she rose up completely, the unseen stranger casually walked up past Chloe and behind Mina.

The stranger stared at Mina with cold, blue eyes. She never saw him. As she began to turn towards him, he fired. Mina hit the ground with a thud.

Dom now rounded the building he and the others had used for cover.

"Eat this you fucking bastard!" Dom screamed and the raiders began to pour down fire.

Dameon ducked behind a crumbling wall, out of their line of sight. Bullets whizzed by. He rounded the back of what was left of the building and picked off a few of the men. He then stood up and faced Dom, with rifle ready. Dom was turned slightly to the left. He glanced at Dameon and then looked down his weapon. He considered doing a quick turn and bringing down the Demon. Before Dom could put his plan into motion, an unseen Tai pounced on him from his right.

"Ahhh!" Dom screamed as the dog's canines ripped into his hands. He dropped his gun. The dog snapped at his face. He punched the dog and kicked it in the teeth while screaming. The dog was unforgiving and continued to savagely bite him. He stood and turned to run, but Dameon appeared in front of him, rifle ready.

Dameon kissed the air with his lips and fired a shot right through Dom's neck. Dom fell to the ground. He made a wheezing noise as the air bubbled up through the blood in his trachea. He suffocated on the asphalt.

Chloe cringed for a second in her cage. She saw the stranger look right at her. She felt the burn of his gaze and wanted to hide. She couldn't move. She feared him, even though he was her only hope to get out.

"Help," she squeaked.

Dameon aimed his rifle at Chloe. She went wide eyed. He took a step forward, lowered it, and then lifted it around his back.

"Help me. Let me out!" Chloe pleaded.

Dameon remained silent. He scanned the street for more raiders. All was quiet. He looked up at the buildings. Empty. He lowered his guard and then walked towards her.

Chloe backed up in the cage. She felt a mix of terror and relief, an odd combination. The stranger was tall, maybe six six with an olive complexion, completely caked in the yellow and brown dust of the desert. He had on a thick, black overcoat and military camo jeans. He kneeled down by the front of the cage.

"Who are you?"

"Let me out, please. . . help me," Chloe cried. She heard the savage dog bark behind the stranger.

"Who are you?" Dameon repeated.

"Chloe, my name is Chloe," she wiped her face, "Let me out now! Please!"

Dameon pulled gently on the cage door. It was locked, "Which one has the key? Do you know?"

Chloe pointed to Dom's crumpled body. Dameon nodded and walked over to him. He pulled out a large knife and cut off Dom's clothes and armor as if he were filleting a fish. He reached into Dom's pocket and pulled out the key. Dameon then reached into his own pocket and pulled out a can of blue spray paint. He shook it and painted his special mark on Dom's mutilated body before unlocking Chloe's cage.

Chloe shuffled out immediately and tried to stand. Her legs were in too much pain so she squatted for a moment on the ground.

"There," Dameon said softly, staring at Chloe, "Good as new."

Chloe's heart sank; she felt like she was being taunted. Dameon turned away from her, oblivious, and then walked over toward the bodies of the other raiders. He began to cut off their armor and pile it up by type. He did the same with their weapons and gear, silently.

Chloe stood up and looked around. It was too dark to see anything beyond the square. Her captors were dead; she recognized all of their twisted faces.

_So many. So young. Such a waste._

Chloe remembered her mother's face. As she did, thirst pangs came back to her. She knew there must be water in the Gold Ribbon's inventory. The raiders had been drinking it earlier. She walked up behind Dameon who was fiddling with one of the raider's bags.

Dameon looked over at her with an angry gaze, "What are you doing?"

"Water, I need water, I haven't had any," Chloe said, her throat as dry as sand.

Dameon pulled a bottle of dirty water from the sack and tossed it to her, "Last one."

Chloe immediately gulped down what was in it.

The anger still had not left Dameon's face, "Now get the fuck out of here," he said menacingly. Chloe looked at him and could see he was serious. She then darted away behind one of the buildings.

Tai let out a vicious bark. Dameon smiled then caught himself.

"She can take care of herself," he mused while continuing to gather up the raiders' cargo.

Chapter 7: Grave Robbers

Dameon struggled with all of the weight of the cargo on his back. He felt that he might topple over any second. There was no way he could carry so much. It had been foolish to attack Fairfax, there was too much to haul from Fort Independence already. If he tried to hide it around here, another Outcast or raider patrol would be sure to find it.

_An appetite greater than the size of my stomach. . ._

He groaned and began to slowly walk down the road towards the fort. Tai fell in behind him, eagerly picking up the pace.

"You could fucking help you know," Dameon mumbled to the dog.

(**********************************************************************)

Chloe's ecstasy had only lasted a few moments. She was free, free from the torment of the raiders. Free from the cage. Free from all fetters. She leaned back against a building in exhaustion. Free to. . .she looked out at the desert wasteland. Its vast, dark emptiness was intimidating. She heard the howl of a feral dog off in the distance and remembered the raider that had been mauled to death the day before. The desert would be full of dogs, and giant rats, and god knows what else, and she didn't have any sort of weapon.

Chloe paused. She didn't have any water, or any food. She was wearing the same jeans and Tee-shirt she had been wearing in the Gold Ribbon, now tattered and dirty. She wouldn't last a night out in the wilderness all alone. It would be suicide out there.

Chloe crept back to the raider camp. The stranger had stripped all the raiders naked regardless of sex. Their dead bodies were in contorted positions from having him pull off their clothing. She scoured the area for something useful. The man had left her with nothing. He had taken all of the weapons, all of. . . everything. She looked around; he had taken everything from Gold Ribbon too. She wanted to cry, robbed again.

"I'm fucked," she said to herself. She then heard a bark off in the distance. It was the stranger's wild dog. She considered following the noise. Perhaps if she followed in his wake, he would clear out any danger, or would at least alert her to its presence. She began to follow the stranger from a distance to Fort Independence.

(**********************************************************************)

"Ah," Dameon let the load fall from his back. He then rubbed a sore spot on his lower back with the butt of his rifle. He stopped for a moment to take in his dark surroundings. He then leaned against the facade of a building. There were footsteps somewhere. He saw Tai's hair bristle and the dog's ears pivoted wildly.

"She followed us," he whispered in a barely audible voice. Tai began to growl.

Dameon pivoted around the corner of the building, drew his pistol and trained it on Chloe. She turned white, stunned. She went to run and Dameon grabbed her by her grubby shirt and pushed her to the ground.

"Why are you following me! I told you to go the fuck away," he spat.

Chloe was crying, "I have nowhere to go."

Dameon laughed. The girl stopped crying and looked up at him. He could feel her anger. He paused for a second, unsure why he had laughed.

"No one has anywhere to go," Dameon said, holstering his pistol, "why should you be any different?" he spat on the ground.

"I. . . I won't make it out there," Chloe continued, "I don't have any water, any food, any decent clothes."

"You look fine," Dameon smiled. He then looked up to the fort less than a mile away.

Chloe closed her eyes and began to ready herself to leave the bastard, "I'm going to die."

Dameon nodded.

_Probably true._

He felt the pain in his back.

"Nowhere to go. . . " Dameon mused, "Well. . . here," he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He motioned for Chloe to take a puff but she just stared at him blankly. He paused.

"A lot of cargo from those raiders. More in the fort up there. It's too much for me to carry. I'm going to TenPenny Tower. You can come along if you help me haul all of this gear. Might be too much for even the two of us," Dameon shrugged.

Chloe remembered stories of TenPenny her mother had told her. It was one of the largest buildings left outside of DC. It was a huge, recently refurbished condo building, inhabited by the few remaining, wealthy inhabitants of the desert. They were those people lucky enough to have scavenged a mound of caps in the first two generations after the war. A few times as a little girl, Chloe was just able to make out the tower's profile in the southern sky.

"You won't be able to come along," Dameon leaned over and pet Tai for a moment. He then bent his right arm down in a signal, "Go home boy. Go home."

The dog whined for a minute. Dameon did the signal a few more times. Finally, Tai barked and ran off. Chloe watched the dog disappear into the darkness.

"Don't worry about Tai, he always makes it home. Better sense of direction then me," Dameon took a drag on his cigarette, "Fucking pricks at TenPenny won't let me bring him in," he spat onto the road. A bad habit. Too much tobacco.

"Will I be safe there? Can you take me somewhere safe?" Chloe asked solemnly.

Dameon nodded and picked up his bags, "Come on, there is a lot more cargo in the fort."

(**********************************************************************)

Chloe's eyes tried to adjust to the dim darkness of Fort Independence. The walls were smeared with blood and grime. She could smell the decomposition hanging in the air. It was cloying and choked her. A vile place. She watched for a few minutes as Dameon dug around the corpses for anything of value. He began stripping more bodies. He cut an earring off of one of the dead women.

Chloe was disgusted. She looked away from Dameon.

_He hasn't even bothered to say his name. . ._

Dameon stopped and wiped his bloody hands. He then stood up and walked over to her, dropping a few items at her feet.

"Wrap those in something," he said before returning to stripping the Outcasts.

Chloe looked at the mess at her feet.

_What a horrible person. So cold, so empty. _

He would have left her to die if he hadn't been so greedy. She hadn't seen so much cargo before. It was more than would have fit in the Gold Ribbon. She looked at all of the cargo and all of the death.

"Why did you kill them all?" Chloe said, transfixed by the scene.

"Huh?" Dameon was taken aback. He stood up from a slumped over body, "I was outside Fairfax when the Outcasts sent out a patrol to the town. I heard them fighting the raiders and figured I would swing by the base before they returned. Maybe it would be lightly guarded – and it was. Outcasts must have lost a lot of men against those raiders," he went back to scavenging.

"But why?" Chloe began to sort through the bloody pile, "What gives you the right to kill all of these people like animals," she looked at the body of a young Outcast.

Dameon realized he hadn't considered the question. He never had, law of the desert, "same right I had to kill those raiders that locked you in a cage."

"They were bastards," Chloe said softly, "but these men didn't attack you."

"Neither did those raiders. What are you standing up for the Outcasts for anyway? They don't give a fuck about you. All they want is to grab up any piece of technology more advanced than sharpened sticks. They don't care about anything else," Dameon threw a hunting rifle onto the pile.

Chloe thought about her mother and sister. They must be the only two decent people left. She had more disdain for the stranger than the raiders. He knew, he must know better. He wasn't some mindless enslaver or killer. He chose what he was doing.

Dameon began to spray-paint his distinctive mark on the fort's inner wall.

He enjoyed this Chloe thought. She remembered Mina's cruel smile.

Dameon finished and laid out a large sheet of canvas, "Throw anything worthwhile onto this," he said to Chloe.

After they piled items on top of it he rolled it up, tied it and handed it to Chloe. She could barley lift the bundle. He had to tie it around her back for it to stay there.

"Ready?" he asked her.

Chloe nodded. It felt like the bag was tearing her in half.

Chapter 8: The Southlands

By noon, Chloe gathered it would be a long walk to TenPenny Tower. They had begun late in the night and she still couldn't see the tower poke above the hills. She squinted into the daylight and coughed. The air was dry and smelled of sand. It was the same dreary landscape she had crossed on the journey to Fairfax.

"You never told me your name," she looked at Dameon and adjusted the bundle strapped to her.

"I didn't," Dameon turned to look at her, "Its Dameon. My name is Dameon Rayes. . . as if it matters," he continued to walk.

"Why? Am I just a mule to you?" Chloe didn't look at him.

"Jesus Christ." Dameon looked off into the distance.

Chloe shook her head and continued to walk. Her body hadn't recovered from the prior ordeal. She could feel her legs shake. She was trying as hard as possible to keep pace with Dameon.

_Will he just leave me if I fall behind?_

"They killed my mother," Chloe said dumbly.

Dameon turned around and stared at Chloe. He could see her wobbling.

"Why don't we sit down on those rocks over there for a minute," he suggested.

Chloe collapsed onto a rock, "Do you have water?"

Dameon shook his head, "Raiders drank the rest of it. No water until TenPenny."

Chloe nodded disappointedly.

The two sat in silence for a moment. Dameon felt agitated by the heat.

"So those raiders killed your mother?" he asked.

Chloe nodded. "We lived in a store. It was called Gold Ribbon Grocer. Had you ever heard of it"

"By reputation. Northeast of here I think," Dameon mused.

Chloe nodded.

"Silly location. Word was bound to get out. So exposed. You should have at least had a mercenary around or something. . .stupid to have all that cargo sitting out in the open. . .Amanda I think, Amanda McGinty."

"That was my mother," Chloe coughed.

"Shame."

"They took my sister away with them. Her name is Emily," Chloe didn't want to think about this anymore.

Dameon nodded. They sat in silence for a few more moments. Then Dameon motioned for her to stand up. She fiddled with the straps of the sac that Dameon had tied to her. Dameon began to walk away. Chloe lifted up the sac and exhaled. She heard rustling behind her.

Dameon heard it too now. He turned around. A giant scorpion the size of a small car crawled over the rock behind Chloe. She turned around, screamed, and then ran towards Dameon. She was awkward with all the weight and couldn't run.

The giant black scorpion darted towards the pair. It had a jointly, glistening body, covered in large, bristly hairs. As it approached, Dameon opened fire. It didn't slow the insect down.

"Run. Run up the road to that car! I will try to slow it down!" Dameon yelled.

"I can't run!" Chloe struggled with the weight.

Neither of them could run. Dameon cut the straps on their bags and the cargo spilled out on the desert sand. Chloe ran towards a broken road to an old burned out car. Dameon reached down into the mess on the sand to grab two mines. He then ran after Chloe with the scorpion close behind.

The scorpion tried to impale Dameon with its stinger. He was just out of its reach, and was able to drop a mine in its path.

_BOOM!_

The mine exploded in a huge cloud of dust but the scorpion kept charging, unfazed. Some fluid leaked out from the cracks in its exoskeleton. Dameon and Chloe were at the car now. Dameon stuck a mine to the wreck's fusion engine.

"Run!" he yelled to Chloe. She ran up the road. The scorpion charged Dameon. He jumped over the car and ran at full speed for about a second before blowing the mine. It detonated the old mini reactor inside of the car. There was a blinding flash.

Chloe turned to see a huge fireball rise up into the sky were the car had been. This was followed by a shower of metal and scorpion segments.

"Dameon!" she called.

He emerged from the smoke, "Get back here. We gotta pick all this shit up. . .again!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Part II: TenPenny Tower**

Chapter 1: Master Trader

TenPenny Tower loomed before Chloe and Dameon. It was larger than Chloe had pictured, nearly twenty stories of an ugly, reddish brown concrete with numerous gray patches. It must have been the tallest structure left in the desert. Dozens of windows on the tower glimmered from lights within. The whole tower seemed to be buzzing with life. As they moved closer, Chloe could hear the dull murmurs of conversation and laughter creeping over the tower's ten foot protective wall.

Dameon guided Chloe to the tower's imposing front gate. It was firmly locked shut with thick iron bars. There were no guards, only an intercom and a security screen. Dameon pushed the intercom button.

From the other end, a guard could see Dameon on the monitor. He peered at him and made a sneer to the security chief standing beside him. The chief pointed at Chloe.

Dameon pushed the button again, "Hello?"

"Keep your panties on," the guard responded.

The large metal gate made a loud beep and gradually began to open.

Dameon turned back to glance at Chloe. Her face was bright red, and her brown hair was matted to her neck and cheeks. She looked absolutely exhausted from hauling all of the cargo, but her eyes were still eager.

The security chief walked up to the gate as Dameon went to enter.

"Randy, right?" Dameon greeted him.

"Yes, Dameon. Welcome back to TenPenny Tower."

Dameon extended his hand for a shake. Randy did not reciprocate so Dameon grabbed his hand and forcibly shook it. Once he was inside of TenPenny's walls, Dameon threw down a large canvas sheet and began to display his cargo on it.

Chloe began to walk in but Randy blocked her at the gate.

"Its two hundred caps for all visitors," Randy said dryly, staring at Chloe with pitiless eyes.

"She's my assistant," Dameon called back over his shoulder, setting up shop, "she's with me."

"I don't care who she's with, its two hundred caps," Randy said, unflinching.

Dameon put down a few more pieces of cargo. People began to approach the large mat and gawk at the various items. A group of well dressed men and women shoved their way through this newly formed mob and began to inspect the items for themselves.

"A good selection this, eh?" one of the well dressed men said.

"Look," Dameon ignored the man, walking back towards Randy, "I already paid your bribe. I'm not paying it again. And I'm not carrying all this shit in by myself, so get the fuck out of her way," he spit into the dirt and rested his hand on his belt loop near his pistol, taunting Randy to make the next move.

"Look at all of this power armor," the well dressed man peered down at the canvas.

"Those are for you, Bannel," Dameon called back, "Are we done here?"

Randy looked to the other security men. They squinted at him under the late afternoon sun. It would be very tricky to attempt anything with all of TenPenny's residents milling about.

"I'm taking this up with TenPenny," Randy said.

Randy stepped aside, letting Chloe walk past him. She was weighed down by fifty pounds of cargo. She put the heavy bags down and nearly collapsed into the sand.

"If TenPenny says no, I'm coming for my money," Randy waived for one of the other guards to follow him inside.

"Add it to my tab," Dameon said, as he untied one of Chloe's sacs.

Bannel picked up a breast plate from the pile of power armor and held it up to the sky. Sunlight poured in through a conspicuous bullet hole near the heart.

"It will have to mended," Bannel bit his lip, "I'll give you fifty seven a piece"

"Fifty seven?" Dameon spat, "those are worth one hundred, at least."

Bannel examined the bullet hole closely with his fingertips.

"That's one fucking piece," Dameon spit onto the yellow soil, "not easy to find mint condition salvage around here, is it?"

"Yes, they are worth two hundred in mint condition. Maybe one hundred as they are now...but that's retail price from a vendor such as myself," Bannel put down the armor, "I've got to make a profit of my own."

"Oh look at this," one of the well dressed women who had arrived with Bannel crooned. She peeked inside a case of Spam tins, "so many."

"Plus," Bannel continued, "Not everyone can wear power armor. You need military codes, or a good hack to deactivate the security features, and you need training to be able to move around in it. . .so it's difficult for me to sell them once I've got them, limited client base."

Dameon took a pack of cigarettes from the woman for the case of Spam. "Fine, why fifty seven though? Can't we make it a round number? Sixty?"

"Fine sixty a piece for the fifteen here. Nine hundred," Bannel said, "what do you want it in?"

"Cigarettes. Easy to carry," Dameon lifted the armor.

Caps were one of the few novel inventions created in the wake of the war. Without a government, and with everyone struggling to eak out an existence, normal paper money and precious metals were worthless. To help in trade, desert merchants invented the concept of a cap. Caps did not exist in physical form; they were a measure of worth loosely tied to certain 'benchmarks.' A cigarette, sheet of paper, pencil, or round of ammunition was 'worth' about a cap. A pack of cigarettes or a clip of ammo was worth about 25 caps. Dirty water 35 caps, a good gun 50, and so on. Using the concept of caps made it much easier for merchants to keep track of debts, value inventory, travel lightly, and deal with complex transactions.

After Bannel and the well dressed crowd departed, many of the other residents of TenPenny Tower stayed to examine what was left of the spread of cargo. Several men, including a security guard, were ogling the rifles and various other weapons Dameon had placed on the mat.

"Its thirty for a hunting rifle," Dameon picked up a hunting rifle and cocked it back, "a cap a round for all ammo but the e-cells. Two caps a cell. See, good quality here."

The crowd continued to mill about around the cargo for another twenty minutes while Dameon hawked to them the price of the various wares. Chloe was feeling dizzy from the sunlight and she leaned against the outside wall, before lying down on a bench. Her head throbbed. She saw Dameon sell a teddy bear to a young woman. Chloe remembered that teddy bear, she remembered setting it up on the display rack in the Gold Ribbon. She closed her eyes. When she looked back at their makeshift market, everyone had left but Dameon who was folding up the canvas and the few unsold items. He rolled it up into a large bundle and then peered over at Chloe.

"Hey," Dameon walked up to her, "for your effort - thirty caps," he gave her a bottle of whisky.

Chloe glanced at the bottle; it was warm in her hand.

"They will allow us to stay the night, but we will have to leave early tomorrow," Dameon opened up a bag of potato crisps and crunched one with his tongue.

"Why won't they let us stay? I thought we would be safe here"

Dameon rubbed his thumb and index finger together in a gesture, "You'd have to pay to buy an apartment here to stay. Very pricey, all snobs you know. They let me stay overnight after I sell to the shopkeepers as a favor, although really it's more of a benefit to them because there's nowhere for me to sleep." Dameon clipped the bundle to his shoulder, "Can head out to MegaTon in the morning. They welcome all types there. . .try out the bar as long as your here. I believe it's called the Federalist Lounge. Whatever the fuck that means. I'll meet you by the gate in the morning," Dameon smiled and then walked towards the front door to TenPenny Tower. He nudged it open.

Chapter 2: Alistair TenPenny

Dameon stepped into TenPenny Tower with Chloe close behind him. While she hesitated in the grand marble lobby, he walked straight past the security desk to the penthouse elevator. The door slid closed behind him.

The interior of TenPenny Tower was ornately decorated with some of the finest items scavenged from the desert. The walls were marble with satin drapes, all of the fixtures were clean, and the interior smelled like carpet. There were green, fake plants set up in large urns in the halls. The dust that permeated the desert had crept into the tower over the years, slowly depositing a layer of sand on every surface.

Dameon walked out of the elevator, and down the decadent hall, approaching TenPenny's suite. The guard at the penthouse door motioned for Dameon to stop.

"He doesn't know I'm here," Dameon lit up a cigarette.

The guard spoke into an intercom and the door clicked open. Dameon walked inside the suite. The furniture was immaculate and the floor was sparkling. A radio hummed in the bedroom. Dameon walked over to the bathroom and turned on the fine porcelain sink. Clean, sparkling water flowed out. He washed off his hands and face and then drank a few mouthfuls of water before heading out onto the balcony.

"Ah," TenPenny nodded from his chair. He was an old man, nearing eighty. He had a wrinkled and wizened face and thin gray hair. His eyes were dark as coals peering over his beak of a nose. From his high perch up atop TenPenny Tower he could see for miles; from the metallic glow of the Washington Monument in the DC metro, to the Pennsylvania border. The desert was now lit up with an amber back light as the sun set behind a dusty sky.

"Mr. Rayes," TenPenny smiled.

"TenPenny," Dameon sat down next to the man on a flimsy lawn chair. There was a bottle of scotch next to the men on a small end table. Dameon poured himself a drink.

"How can I help you, Mr. Rayes?" TenPenny sneered from his cushy seat.

Dameon threw back a shot of burning liquid. He then reached into a small shoulder pouch and retrieved a hand. He put the hand down on the end table and gestured to TenPenny.

"Rather macabre, Mr. Rayes," TenPenny looked at the hand. It had a large eagle tattooed on the wrist, symbol of the Talon Company mercenaries. TenPenny then noticed that the hand was 'holding' a small note. He grabbed it and unfolded the writing. It read:

_Wanted Dead: Dameon 'Demon' Rayes. Last known location: MegaTon. Highly Dangerous. Old man will pay 600 caps upon termination, 1000 if able to retrieve head. Signed Littlehorn._

TenPenny finished reading the note and looked up at Dameon.

"Quite a shame, but I'm sure this is nothing new to a man such as yourself. Why are you showing me this?" TenPenny took a sip from his soda glass and put the note down.

"You're the old man. You sent those mercenaries after me," Dameon said coldly, "the fourth squad in as many weeks."

"No, Mr. Rayes," TenPenny coughed and began to light up his pipe, "Mr. Littlehorn signed that paper. He's your nefarious old man; I have nothing to do with that document."

"Bullshit, Littlehorn works for you. You gave the order to kill me."

"This may surprise you Mr. Rayes, but I have little interest in seeing your untimely demise. You're trading helps keep my tower well stocked, which keeps my tenants paying and happy. And you've eliminated several of my commercial rivals over the years," TenPenny mused, "There are many individuals that would be much higher up on what I think you would refer to as my 'list'." You're a nonentity."

Dameon sat motionless, reading the old man.

"A nonentity?"

"Yes. . .Haha," the old man strained to laugh, "and I would pay more than a 1000 caps."

Dameon stood up, "Maybe."

"Yes, well," TenPenny fiddled with his tie, "Now that I have cooled your rage to do me violence will that be all, Mr. Rayes?"

Dameon reached down into his pocket and pulled out the holotape from Fort Independence, "I thought you might want to buy this from me."

TenPenny put down his pipe, flustered, "first you make wild accusations that I am trying to have you dispatched. Now you want to trade with me as if I were some street hawker."

"Only the best for Alistair TenPenny. The most sophisticated commodity. . . Information," Dameon put the holotape on the table.

"What is it?" TenPenny huffed.

"It contains all the data on Fort Independence's computer system. I downloaded it from the mainframe. Schematics, recon and battle reports, lots of stuff... mentioned some artifact called H2. Heard anything about that?"

TenPenny reached for the holotape and then flipped it in his fingers, "No. But in light of all that you've said, why sell it to me?"

"You'd pay for it, not many others would . . .or could," Dameon smiled.

"Two thousand caps then," TenPenny held up a shot glass to Dameon. Dameon raised his own glass and they had a toast.

Chapter 3: The Federalist Lounge

Chloe watched as Dameon walked over to the elevator and waited. She had never been in a building so large. The height of the ceiling and the long glass chandelier were unnerving to her. The lobby was full of people coming and going. She was still thirsty as ever and her body ached from carrying so much weight across the desert.

She sat down on a marble bench.

"So," a woman chimed, walking over to Chloe, "who are you, traveler?"

"My name is Chloe," Chloe smiled.

"Chloe?"

"McGinty."

"Ew," the woman smiled, "such a strange name," she took a sip of her soda and sat down on the bench next to Chloe. "My name is Susan. Susan Lancaster. What are you doing here?"

Chloe's throat was very dry. She looked at Susan's bottle jealously.

Susan looked away, oblivious.

"I was captured by raiders. They took me to Fairfax. . .and a man. . .Dameon. He-"

"He saved you," Susan turned back to Chloe, smiling, "Do you want the rest of this," she handed Chloe the soda.

"Thank you so much," Chloe took a huge gulp.

"So what do you know about Demon Rayes?"

"Who?"

"Dameon Rayes, your friend. Who saved you. His name is Dameon, but out here they call him the Demon."

"Nothing," Chloe shrugged. Her skin burned. She felt like she might be getting radiation sickness.

"Is he evil?" Susan took Chloe's hot hand.

Chloe thought back to the fort, "yes."

"I knew it," Susan smiled, proudly, "Lydia and Melanie go on about him constantly, but I knew he was just an evil curse."

Chloe nodded.

"Hi Lydia," Susan smiled at a woman who had just walked in. Chloe recognized her as the woman who bought the bear from Dameon.

Lydia waived to Susan who rose to her feet.

"Come dear, talk to me in the store. I have to unload this," Lydia said, walking away with a large bag.

Susan stood up and the two women walked off to the left.

Chloe followed.

The women walked into a shop with a sign over the door that read 'Boutique le Chic' in red calligraphy. It was a nice little shop with hundreds of items handpicked from the desert. There were mini stoves, boxes of food, some ammo, furniture, posters. . .and the bear. Chloe watched as Lydia went to place it on a shelf. Their eyes met.

"Can I help you?" Lydia said dryly.

Chloe took a step forward, "the bear. I want the bear."

"You're the girl who came in with Dameon, aren't you?" Lydia said.

"She was captured by Raiders. Dameon saved her. Slaughtered them all I would guess," Susan chimed.

"Yes. That bear was mine, it wasn't Dameon's to sell."

"Well I've already bought it," Lydia laughed at the sun-scorched, dirty girl before her, "aren't you too old for teddy bears anyway?"

"It's all I have left of my mother and I WANT it," Chloe almost screamed.

Lydia was taken aback, "well like I said, I already bought it fairly. Here, just pay me what I paid. . .15 caps and we will both be happy."

Chloe decided to pay her. Her head was pounding.

(**************************************)

Chloe woke up on a lobby bench an hour later. Her head was feverishly hot. She must have fallen asleep without knowing it. She walked over to the right of the security desk where a sign pointed to the Federalist Lounge.

The bartender inside was a large robot who was busy mixing and pouring drinks for six men at the bar. A young woman was sitting at a table behind them, sipping on a martini. Chloe sat down and called to the robot.

"What can I get you mam?" it hummed.

"Do you have any water?"

"I'm sorry. We have three kinds of beer, vodka, wine, whisky, gin, pep, and nuka-cola."

"I need some water," Chloe ran her hands over her face and put her head down on the bar, "Nuka-cola then."

"Fifteen caps please."

Chloe parted with the other half of her caps. She had nothing now. She sipped on the Nuka-cola. It wouldn't help with the rad sickness – it would probably make it worse. She looked around at the bar theme. It was trying to be fancy but there just wasn't enough to scavenge. The walls had old posters and hub caps next to sumptuous drapes and fancy trim.

Dameon walked in and sat down next to Chloe.

"Hello partner," Dameon motioned over the robot barkeep, "buy you a drink?"

Chloe wiped her face and looked away, "I need water."

"I'm sorry sir but we-"

"Ah, ah" Dameon waived the robot away, "just get me a beer, Shakes. I don't care what kind," He then reached into his backpack and handed Chloe a bottle of fresh clean water.

Chloe stared at the bottle wide-eyed, "you said. . .where did you get this? How long did you have this?" her eyes filled with tears.

"I filled it up in TenPenny's suite. Bastard's got plumbing with clean water. I filled up all of my empty bottles."

Chloe began gulping down the water. It was the cleanest, most refreshing thing she had ever tasted.

"You look hot, probably have radsickness," Dameon ran his hand through his hair and then pulled a needle out of his pocket, "This is an anti-radiation xenoephederine injection. They call it Rad-X. Makes you feel better in a few hours. Give me your arm."

Chloe took a break from drinking and gave her arm to Dameon.

"Shakes!" Dameon called, "need a shot of vodka."

Dameon dipped his hand into the shot and swabbed Chloe's arm with the vodka before injecting her. She whimpered as the needle emptied.

"See, I'm not all bad," Dameon threw the needle towards a trash bin against the wall.

"You took everything," Chloe was crying, "I don't even have any more caps."

"What do you mean I took everything?" Dameon stood up, annoyed, now clutching his beer.

"All of the food, all of the toys, all of the caps, everything. It was all from my mother's store. They were hers and mine, and you took them and sold them all and left me with nothing," Chloe tried to hide her face from everyone else in the bar.

Dameon looked around. No one had taken notice.

"Those things were shit," Dameon spat, "All the caps I made were from selling the cargo we took from the fort. Your mom's teddy bears and Spam were worth nothing."

"Fuck you," Chloe looked up at Dameon and wiped her eyes, "She was so much better than you."

"After all, what did I ever do for you?" Dameon shrugged.

An old man walked into the bar and smiled at Dameon. Dameon smiled back and took a swig of his beer. He then walked over to the old man and sat down next to him.

"Herbert Dashwood. How are you?"

"Fine, fine," the old man chuckled, "Buy you a drink, Dameon?"

Dameon held up his beer, "already got one."

"And does the mighty desert demon, the modern day Azazel, get tipsy off one beer?" Dashwood laughed.

"Modern day Azazel, what is that crap?"

"You know," Dashwood continued, "the wilderness demon of the desert. From the bible."

Dameon pounded down his entire beer, "yeah, you sound like a fucking ghoul when you go on about ancient history like that."

"I forgot how much you hate ghouls. . .and history," Dashwood chuckled.

"What's a ghoul?" Chloe had walked over. She stood behind the men. Dameon didn't move but Dashwood pulled up a chair for her.

"Name's Dashwood, Herbert Dashwood."

"Herbert Daring Dashwood . . .from the radio show?" Chloe was in awe, she had spent her childhood listing to the Daring Dashwood Radio Show at 8 P.M. every night. When she was very little, her father would tell her stories about the great desert hero Daring Dashwood and his formidable sidekick Argyle every night before she went to bed.

"The radio show," Dameon muttered sarcastically as he got up to get another drink.

"Yes, but don't believe most of what you heard on that show. I told my story to a man years and years ago and. . .well, I can't remember his name. . .but he did embellish it quite a bit. . ." Dashwood took a drink, "Yes, well anyway, to answer your question, a ghoul is man who has been exposed to lots of radiation. His body will blister and crack, and look hideous, but somehow ghouls don't die from cancer or anything in the process. Damned if I understand it. You see the radiation actually extends their lives. Some were born before the nuclear war, two hundred years ago. Most live underground now, something about the sunlight."

Dameon sat back down in his seat, "when they get too old, their brains rot and they attack anything on sight, like a mindless zombie."

"Yes," Dashwood sipped on his drink, "but before they go feral they are every bit as human as you and I."

"Like your sidekick from the show. . .Argyle?" Chloe's headache was clearing.

"Yes, saved my ass quite a few times," Dashwood chuckled.

"Bunch of abominations," Dameon muttered.

"Come on now friend," Dashwood said seriously, "Argyle was a good man."

"Why don't you like them?" Chloe asked Dameon.

"Because," Dameon worked on his fresh beer, "They are the ones responsible for this. For the tingle every time I drink this irradiated shit. For the giant insects, the dust storms. For the war. They lived in the society that started the war. They elected the government. We eat shit and ash because of them, their patriotism. . .their war. They wrecked everything. And now they get to live like worms hiding from the sun, how fitting. I think they were cursed with long life so they could wander this wasteland to see what was created by their own hand."

"And I went too far with my biblical allusions," Dashwood made a wry smile to Chloe.

Chloe zoned out for much of the conversation. She was still very tired. An hour of sleep on the uncomfortable bench was not enough.

Two hours later, Dashwood was red-faced from drinking and was bawling with laughter, "And I said to her, who do you think you are? Vault Dweller?"

Dameon chuckled. A fake laugh.

"No sense of humor in you," Dashwood drunkenly proclaimed, "Such dry humor it's amazing you don't choke. Hehe. . .all about the caps and the adventure with you. Caps and adventure," Dashwood sucked on his bottle.

"You know me, always. . . fishing," Dameon sat back. He glanced at Chloe as she slept, head leaning against the bar wall.

"Yeah well, you keep in mind what I learned a long time ago," Dashwood said seriously.

Dameon leaned in, "What's that?"

"You're not bullet proof," Dashwood put down his bottle.

"Yeah," Dameon smiled, "but I am bullet resistant."


	3. Chapter 3

**Part III: The Great Sandbox**

Chapter 1: Departure

Chloe woke up while it was still dark. She wandered into a stairwell and watched the sunrise poke out over TenPenny's defensive wall from a third story window. She thought about her mother as a young woman. Amanda McGinty. The stories that travelers and caravaners would tell her about her, and the adventures they had out in the desert. Ghouls and marauders, strange mutated monsters, kindhearted knights. Her mother had apparently been quite an adventurer, good with a rifle, and always ready for a fight. Chloe didn't feel like she had taken after her at all.

Those stories always had a dull, numbed, anesthetic feeling to them. They played through Chloe's mind in a melodramatic sepia. Now that she was in her own story, Chloe was shocked by the unnerving uncomfortably and the burn of high adventure.

(********************************************************************)

"Get up," Chloe kicked Dameon in the shin, "Dameon wake up."

Dameon opened his eyes. His face was shielded from Chloe's view by the visor of his black baseball cap. He lifted the brim, "huh?"

"It's time to go," she repeated, "it's morning."

Dameon stood up and took in the Federalist Lounge. The bar was empty save for himself, Chloe, and the robot who was mechanically scrubbing a chair.

"Yeah," Dameon retrieved his things and walked over to the register. He put down a few cigarettes on the bar, "thanks Shakes."

"Thank you," hummed the robot.

Dameon and Chloe walked out into the lobby. Chloe pushed open the door to bright daylight and squinted at the sun.

"You!" Randy called out from afar.

Dameon walked forward, towards the heavy front gate.

"TenPenny said to bust you in da mouth if you try and bring another visitor in here for free," Randy boomed.

"TenPenny said that? He said 'bust me in da the mouth'" Dameon wiped his chin.

"Fuck you, smart ass."

Dameon went to circle Randy. He stopped short, made a pistol with his hand and smiled. Randy watched, bemused. Dameon then waived for Chloe to follow him outside.

They began to walk west from the tower, parallel to the great sandbox.

"Gonna be rough out here," Dameon looked back to Chloe. She was still wearing her tattered jeans and a white undershirt. Her face had healed from the Rad-X.

"You look much prettier when your face isn't bright red," Dameon smiled.

Chloe was uncomfortable in the morning heat, "Is this the way to MegaTon?"

"Yeah. Would be shorter to just head back through Fairfax but they may have sent people back there to see what the hell happened. Safer to curve around north a bit."

Chloe nodded.

"I mean, that's what 'Daring Dashwood' would do," Dameon sniggered.

"You're the only one who gets to have a fake middle name?" Chloe shot back.

The pair continued out into the desert. Chloe coughed into her hand. She was feeling much better than the day before. Even the landscape was less bleak. It had turned from bare scorched earth to a kind of rocky scrub with hardy weeds and gently rolling hills.

Dameon looked back to Chloe and just stared for a moment. "I don't see how you were so sheltered, living with a trader you must have met a lot of people during childhood. Wandered the desert," Dameon walked down a rock pile into the blinding sun.

"What do you mean?" Chloe sounded offended.

Dameon motioned for her to stop. He knelt down and pulled out a pair of binoculars to scan the area.

"I mean," he whispered, "You don't know what a ghoul is? You don't know what cargo is valuable? You were sleeping, unarmed, on a pile of caps in the middle of a lawless desert. Just sounds naive to me."

Chloe blushed, "I've heard of Ghouls. I knew who Argyle was. I just . . .I never saw one. They didn't seem real to me. Like a ghost or an alien."

"Those are real too." Dameon smiled.

"We weren't unguarded. Our mercenaries just disappeared the day before. I'm not a child or an idiot. We talked to the trade caravans all of the time. I'm just. . ." Chloe closed her eyes.

Although physically better, Chloe was mentally exhausted. She picked a small towel out of Dameon's bag and draped it over her shoulders to shield herself from the blistering sun.

"Mercs left huh? Convenient," Dameon looked at something off in the distance through his binoculars.

A few giant rats. He'd avoid them

"Or. . . well not convenient for you, I guess," he continued.

Chloe tried to look off into the distance but the dust had picked up with the wind, obscuring everything to the west.

Dameon brooded on his last words. He ran up a rock pile and looked around. They had only gone maybe six miles from TenPenny. He could see the tower off in the distance.

_Mabye Alistair is staring down at me now, giving me the finger. . ._

They continued walking.

Chapter 2: Tall Tales

It was another few hours of walking in fits and starts, waiting for Dameon to scope out any danger, before the two stopped to rest alongside a desiccated tree. It branches were bone dry and cracking.

Chloe looked up at the white branches. Dameon went about cleaning his rifle. Chloe sat in silence for a few minutes, but the empty howl of the wind irked her.

"You're not much of a talker," Chloe mused.

"Me?" Dameon wasn't paying much attention, "Guess not. Alone too often. Don't know how to begin a good conversation."

"Well," Chloe began, "you could start with your name next time. Or maybe where you're from."

Dameon looked up in thought for a second, "Nowhere. . .and everywhere. I never had a fixed home or family or anything like that."

Chloe stared at Dameon. He was silent for a moment.

"I never even knew my mother. Too young, I think she died in childbirth, or maybe a little after. Don't really know."

"You were raised by your father?"

"Yeah, well I guess he was my father. . .no way of knowing for sure. His name was Gavin Rayes. He was, well not a trader, a uh. . .survivalist sort of. We lived as nomads. Set up camp, hunted, scavenged, moved on. Like ancient Indians. He taught me my skill set. Guns, traps, hunting," Dameon laughed to himself, "Guess he didn't know much else. When he died when I was eleven I think we were on the same reading level."

"What happened to him?"

"I. . .I don't know," Dameon looked up to the sky, "When I was eleven, guess I could have been twelve. . .one night we both fell asleep out in the desert. I woke up the next morning and he was gone. I spent the day looking for him and found him dead, maybe half a mile away. Shot. Never found out who did it."

"You raised yourself from eleven?"

Dameon nodded, "Well I had some help. I hung around a caravaner for a while. She taught me how to really read and got me into books. When I was sixteen I took my first trip into the metro area and bumped into a brotherhood patrol. Earned enough of their trust for them to teach me how to hack. The rest was self taught, trial and error. . .learned by observation."

Dameon thought about what he had just said. He then heard a voice being carried over the hills. He froze and motioned for Chloe to get down. She complied and then slowly crawled towards him. Dameon then gestured for her to freeze while he checked it out.

Dameon looked over a nearby rock. He peered through his binoculars. About three hundred yards away he could make out four people. Three men and a woman. They were all similarly dressed in brown overcoats and combat fatigues. Dameon could see that one of the men was pointing a rifle at the others. He couldn't make out what anyone was saying.

"Stay here," he said softly to Chloe. She nodded.

Dameon crawled closer to the man with the gun. He had his back towards Dameon, so Dameon picked up his pace to close the distance. Two hundred yards, then one hundred. The man began to turn his head. Dameon dove behind a small dune. He peered over. The man with the gun hadn't seen him. . .one of the others may have. Hopefully they wouldn't give away his presence. Dameon looked up.

_All clear. _

Dameon closed the last few yards. While the man's back was still turned, Dameon drew his pistol and fired two shots into the man's back.

"Oh," the man fell down. The other strangers seemed to let down their guard. Dameon ran over to the man he had shot. He pulled a knife from his belt out of instinct to strip the man's gear. The bleeding man tried to stand up. Dameon quickly stabbed him in the neck; blood sprayed onto the dirt.

Chloe turned away, horrified. The other strangers backed away from Dameon in fear.

Dameon stared them down. They had pistols, still holstered. The dead man must have gotten the jump on them. They looked weary, and bit frightened of what Dameon's intentions might be.

_Desert wanderers. _

Dameon put away his knife.

"I don't know what to say other than thanks," one of the wanderers said to Dameon. He nodded.

Chloe quickened her pace and joined the others.

"He and another one attacked us in the Sand Box, we never saw him coming," the woman wanderer said softly.

"Where's the other one then?" Dameon reached for his rifle.

"We were able to lose him in a storm. We thought we lost both of them but he," one of the men pointed to the dead man, face down in the sand, "he ambushed us out here.'

Dameon nodded. He looked around for any trace of the other, phantom attacker.

"Just thieves. Highwaymen, I guess," one of the wanderers muttered, "wanted our water. We told him, 'we don't have any more water. That's why we had to turn back."

"Fuck are you doing out here anyway?" Dameon pulled a fresh pack of cigarettes from his pocket and began to strike the box against his palm.

The wanderers looked at one another in silence for a moment. Then one piped up, "Looking for cargo."

"Looking for cargo?" Dameon peered into his cigarette pack. Half of the cigarettes were prewar, tightly rolled. The others were newly wrapped, rather loosely, in yellow paper that crumbled at the touch, "Awful place for it."

He peered around the vicinity.

"Nothing near here but an old, abandoned church and the Sand Box."

"What's the Sand Box?" Chloe asked.

Dameon turned towards her, "Used to be a huge complex of military bases out here," Dameon pointed west, to a large sand dune "Chinese wiped them out with nukes, reduced everything to glass. . .or sand. Wait. . .I guess they're the same thing. Like thirty miles of nothing but sand and wind now. Hell to travel through the heat, sand, and mutants. Yeah, those mutants love it in there."

"Yeah," the female wanderer nodded.

The strangers fell silent again, for a moment. They looked at one another as if looking for approval.

"Ever heard of RidgeFeild?" one asked.

"RidgeField?" Dameon paused to think, "No."

"They call it minefield too. Minefield. That's actually what it is. Through the Sand Box, west of here next to some hills. It was a secluded town, in the shadow of a ridge, far from where any of the bombs fell; it's still intact even after all these years. And. . .as far as we heard it's still unscavenged."

"How could a town go unscavenged for two hundred years?"

The female wanderer spoke up, "It's not called minefield for nothing. The whole town is a minefield. Must have been put down soon after the war. Still very dangerous."

"Sounds flimsy," Dameon leaned back, "Desert myth."

"No, it's real. I'm telling you. Go north near the top edge of the sand box. There will be large bunker that survived the bombs. That's as far as we got. A traveler told us that past there we'd see a water tower at the crest of a hill. The town would be just down that ridge. Huge haul, tons of cargo."

"Why didn't this traveler scavenge the place himself?"

"Said he was afraid to tamper with the land mines," the woman said.

Dameon studied the woman's face.

_Seemed sincere_.

He looked at the others.

"Say. . .give us thirty caps to split and we'll let you in on a big secret about the town," one of the men said sheepishly.

Dameon raised an eyebrow brow, "what secret?"

"Thirty caps," the man insisted.

Dameon frowned, "how can a pay for what I don't know?"

"It's a good secret," the man protested, "I swear."

Dameon shook his pack of cigarettes at the strangers.

"There's a sniper in the ruins of the RidgeField library. He's got a great vantage point, near the top. Can see the whole town. Heard he was a crack shot, and he'll shoot anyone who approaches. Some kind of nut bag. He's the one who laid all the mines."

Dameon dropped the pack into the man's palm, "I'll be wary."

After a muted goodbye, the wanderers headed off back into the desert. Dameon watched them disappear behind a hill. Chloe was nervous; she could tell Dameon was thinking about what they had said.

"We are still going to MegaTon, right?" she raised her eyebrows.

Dameon turned around, "I'm weighing it. MegaTon is east of here. RidgeFeild would be west, but not too out of the way."

"You said you would take me to MegaTon," Chloe stared at the beginning of the Sand Box. It looked inhospitable.

"I'm still going to MegaTon."

"Well what do I get for walking in there?' Chloe pointed towards the great open desert.

"A guide who will keep you safe and get you to MegaTon without being eaten by a scorpion," Dameon spit into the sand.

Chloe looked away.

"I'll give you some of the cargo we get too, I mean MegaTon will be safe but you'll still need caps for food, water, anything. Nothing's free in this world. . ."

Chloe still looked unimpressed.

Dameon shrugged to himself, "We can split the haul."

She silently nodded.

"Think of it as a side trip," Dameon smiled.

They began to walk into the Great Sand Box.

Chapter 3: The Storm

The storm that Chloe had seen earlier slowly began to swallow them whole. It started like a dull yellow fog. Chloe covered herself in blankets and looked like a wandering alien bundled head to toe, her only sight through a small break in the headpiece around her nose. Dameon was wearing one of the Outcast's gas masks, firmly tucked under his hood. It was hot, stuffy, and generally horrible inside of the mask. Sweat beaded and condensation built up on the eyeholes. He couldn't see well.

_Too risky._

He lifted the mask off.

"Do you want this mask?" he asked Chloe.

Chloe looked at his red face, scarred by streaks where the mask had been. She shook her covered head.

"Should be getting close to that bunker, unless they were full of shit. If we find it, let's wait out this storm," Dameon called over the wind.

The wind was now howling loudly, making it difficult for either of them to hear anything else. Although the Sand Box wasn't that wide, the temperature difference the radiation created led to a regular, stiff wind that kicked up the sand and the dust into roaring storms. At the peak of these storms, it was difficult to see, even a few feet in front of you. The irradiated dust would line your lungs, eyes, and ears, causing extreme discomfort and temporary blindness.

The two trudged on through the hellish conditions for several hours. Instead of dying down, the winds became more and more intense. The yellow fog swirled into an almost black darkness, turning the day into a muted dusk. Dameon wondered if he would be able to see the bunker if he walked within a mere foot of it.

Luckily for Dameon and Chloe, they were able to hear the bunker before they ever saw it. The half buried structure gave the wind a high pitched whistle as it rushed through the bunker's small, slit like windows. Dameon followed the sound right up to the bunker door.

There was a large above ground section to the bunker. It was about twenty feet long, and a few feet wide, giving it the appearance of a machine gun pillbox. Sand and wind rushed in through the window slits, but the outside door was shut tight.

Chloe got to the door first and wrenched it open. She peered in, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dark interior.

She gasped in horror, standing dumbly in the open doorway.

Dameon casually nudged Chloe aside with his rifle. He then stared down at a bloody corpse of a mutant, which was lying dead on the bunker floor.

Dameon raised his rifle and took a step inside of the bunker.

"It's dead," he said. He walked up to the mutant.

The mutant was huge, maybe seven feet tall. It was humanoid in appearance . . . maybe it once was human. It had two over-muscular arms, and two tree trunk like legs. Its heard was large and ugly, covered in skin abscesses that drooped into its eyes. It was bald except for a wisp of hair on the chin, and had red sunburned skin. It was like an angry, saggy giant on steroids.

Chloe didn't move.

"It's dead," Dameon repeated. He then walked over to the dead body of a normal sized human who lay next to the mutant, by a closed steel door. The human had a knife in his stiff hand.

"The other highwayman those wanderers told us about?" Dameon thought aloud.

"They were right about this bunker," Chloe took a step inside. It felt good to get out of the direct wind. She shut the door. The bunker had an awful, over ripe smell, "what is that thing?"

"A mutant," Dameon reached into the highwayman's pocket. He pulled out a clip of ammo.

"A mutant?" Chloe edged closer to the body, "like a ghoul?"

"Some people say ghouls turn into them. . .but that's bullshit. I mean I think that's bullshit," he stepped back; "I've read on some of the prewar terminals that the old military had been manufacturing bio weapons, viruses, before the war."

"And?"

"Well, sometimes they used viruses for. . .I think they called it 'gene therapy' to introduce new DNA into cells. After the war, some assholes left in the vaults started testing them on people. Trying to make people who could survive out here in the early days. It was worse back then. They wanted people who could leave the shelters, people who could take lots of radiation. . .people who were really strong. . .some kind of social control."

Dameon checked his gear. He shouldn't have traded so much of the Fort Independence/Fairfax haul. He was running low on ammo. He eyed the bunker's internal, basement door.

He walked over to the door and slid it open. Chloe stayed put. Dameon peered through the doorway. He saw a set of stairs leading down into inky darkness. He paused and searched for his flashlight.

"What do you think killed it?" Chloe was still transfixed.

"Huh? I don't know. The highwayman, I guess. I'm going to check it out down there, make sure we are alone," Dameon motioned towards the stairs, "Stay here."

Chloe nodded. There was no way she was going down into the dark basement.

Dameon clicked on his flashlight. He could only see to the bottom of the stairs. Somehow, the sand had gotten down there too. The basement door must have been opened . . .at some time. Dameon walked down to the basement. He could hear the wind howl upstairs. He looked around. The basement was empty. A poster on the wall read, 'where will you be during the Apocalypse?' a Vault-Tech Logo emblazoned on the bottom. There were a few empty soda bottles. . . Something to the left caught Dameon's eye. A large metallic object. Dameon walked closer to it.

A _flame thrower?_

Dameon smiled and picked up the overly bulky weapon. It would be useless to try and carry something so heavy across the desert. Probably useless in a fight as well.

_Ah well. It looks. . .fun._

Chloe peered down the stairwell, searching for Dameon. She couldn't see very much. He was deep inside. Chloe turned and tried to look into the desert. The wind was blowing hard; she could barely see the sun. It was setting over the sand dunes. Hopefully the storm would die out in the cool night.

"Oooow."

Chloe heard a noise in the darkness. Her chest tightened. She listened closely. She heard what she could only describe as a dog's howl being carried softly over the wind. She heard it again.

"Dameon?" she called down the steps, "Dameon?"

"Yeah?"

Chloe saw the light from his flashlight. Dameon began to climb the stairs brining something large along with him.

"Look what I found," Dameon got to the top of the stairs and put down the flame-thrower. He dropped his gun and started fiddling with the bulky weapon, "still has some fuel."

"I think I can hear a dog outside."

"A dog?" Dameon continued to examine the weapon, "that's doubtful. Wouldn't come out here, nothing to eat."

"Maybe it's your dog? He could have followed us?"

"He shouldn't," Dameon looked up, "No, he knows-"

Dameon heard the howl over the wind. He could see Chloe's pupils constrict. It was getting dark out. He heard the howl again.

"Sounds close," Chloe backed up.

"Yeah," Dameon stood up and walked up next to her.

"Should we see what it is?" Chloe whispered.

"Can barely see anything out there anyway. Would be walking blind."

They were both silent for a moment. Then, instead of a murmur, they heard what sounded almost like a voice call out. Dameon walked up to one of the window slits and peered out, into the storm.

"We are really exposed here."

"Then we should leave," Chloe walked over to the bunker's exit door. Dameon nodded and began to lift his bag. Chloe opened the door to the storm and looked outside. She took a step into the darkness.

Dameon began to follow. Chloe walked outside, a few feet away from the bunker. She could see a little better from the outside, but everything was becoming dark. She looked back to the bunker and saw Dameon approaching. He reached for his holster and felt for his pistol. The slide was back. It was empty.

Dameon looked back to the bunker. He had forgotten his rifle.

"Wait here a second," he ordered as he walked back to the bunker. He opened its door; it slammed shut behind him in the wind. Once inside, Dameon walked over to his rifle and picked it up. He pulled back its hammer.

"I'm ready-" he heard a crash from deep within the bunker's basement. Then what sounded like heavy footsteps. Dameon ran over to the basement door and took a quick peek in. He then grabbed some rope from his sac and quickly began to lash the basement door shut.

"Chloe! There's something in here. We have to move! I'll be out in a second," he called out.

Chloe couldn't make out his words from the outside. She walked over to the bunker's window slits.

"What?"

"I said-"

_BANG! _

The force of the blow nearly knocked Dameon over. Luckily, he had just lashed the door.

_BANG! _

Something was banging on the basement door. Chloe began to back away from the window slits.

"Let's get the fuck out of here!" Dameon screamed.

Chloe ran off, into the storm. She looked back to make sure she didn't lose sight of the bunker.

Dameon was torn between fleeing and securing the basement door. He heard another slam. No human could hit so hard. He quickly grabbed one more piece of rope to finish the job.

Chloe's eyes darted widely all around. She could see the bunker. There was only blackness beyond it. She heard a howl again. Closer now. Too close, she had to get back to Dameon. She turned as she heard a loud crunching noise coming towards her. Less than ten feet away, a seven foot tall, four hundred pound mutant was charging at her from out of the dust.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" she let out a bloodcurdling scream.

"GET BACK HERE!" Dameon shouted from the bunker. He had finished lashing the basement door and ran to the one that led outside.

Chloe was running at full speed back to the bunker. The mutant was gaining behind her. It began to close, ten feet, then seven, then six.

Dameon could just see Chloe coming through the storm. He saw the shadow behind her. She was opposite the bunker's entrance.

"The windows! The windows!" Dameon screamed to her.

Chloe was panting. She was too scared to scream. She could hear the mutant's loud breath behind her and thought she felt it reaching for her. She was at the bunker now. She dove into it through one of the window slits and crashed down onto the bunker floor.

"Get down!" Dameon screamed.

He ran up and fired his assault rifle through the narrow window slits, striking the brute but only slowing it down. The banging on the basement door continued. Dameon saw the rope he had tied around it pull taught, and he heard it begin to snap from the tension. He turned back to the window and emptied his rifle into the mutant's skull, bring the hulk down.

"Get in the doorway!" Dameon shouted, pointing to the door to the desert, and the howling wind.

Chloe immediately bolted towards the exit.

"Tell me if you see any more coming!" Dameon threw down his empty assault rifle. He then ran around frantically, unthinking, and then remembered the flame-thrower. He picked it up and waited for the door to the basement to burst. The mutants continued to bang on it, but the ropes were holding.

Dameon ran to the exit, next to Chloe. He stood there for a moment.

"Let's run!" she screamed.

Dameon paused. The banging continued, but the ropes still held.

_Can't wait. _

Dameon fired the flame-thrower at the basement door, burning the ropes to singes. Two snarling mutants forced the door open and began to charge. Dameon emptied the flame-thrower on the doorway, cascading burning gasoline onto the two brutes. The fierce wind from the outside rushed in, in a torrent, turning the whole bunker alight with flames, and making a firestorm.

Chloe had to pull Dameon out of the inferno by his coat; his hand was stuck on flamethrower's trigger from adrenaline.

It took hours before he realized how badly he'd been burned.

(********************************************************************)

Chloe winced at the sight of the burn marks. Dameon just stared down in silence as they sat in the smoking bunker. His left calf has been singed badly, black in some places. It smelled god-awful. He had taken injections and gelled it but it felt weak and flabby. He looked at the two charred mutants. They lay smoking on the ground. Chloe turned to stare.

"Are you okay?"

Dameon looked at his wound for a second, "I'll be fine. It's mostly skin,"

Chloe nodded. "I should have a gun too. Where's the pistol?"

Dameon winced. "It's out of ammo. I sold too much."

"Greed. . ." Chloe looked outside.

"I still got my rifle," he said, while clutching the long gun.

"Can you walk?"

"I'll be fine."

"Let's go. We shouldn't stay in one place all night," Chloe's eyes looked weary.

"I don't want to get to RidgeField until dusk. We shouldn't approach it in the light."

"That's what you think about?" Chloe mused.

Dameon pulled out a capsule of jet.

"Bottoms up," he inhaled the mist and closed his eyes. The burning pain in his leg faded away.

Dawn would come in a few hours. The winds of the storm were dying down. Night was going to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Part IV: RidgeFeild**

Chapter 1: The Approach

Dameon and Chloe reached RidgeField before dusk the next day. Chloe had gotten restless during the night and Dameon had agreed to leave early to get her to be quiet. They had stopped walking once Dameon had spotted the red and white water tower. It took hours of creeping up the hillside to get to the crest of a tall hill that would give them a better view of the valley.

Dameon made a motion for Chloe to hold back. He got on his stomach and crawled to the crest, rifle pushed out in front of him. He leaned so that his binoculars peeked over the hilltop.

_Small town. _

RidgeField had twelve houses clustered together in a gentle valley. All but two of them looked perfectly intact. There were no nearby craters. There were swathes of waist high, wiry brush and black/green scrub. The main road of the town was littered with cars and bicycles. He could make out the last rusting posts of a swing set and a slide off to the town's left, and the looming remains of a library to the north.

Dameon ducked back down.

Chloe waited for a moment, patiently.

"What did you see?" she whispered.

Dameon leaned in, "the town is right on the other side of this hill. Little smaller than I thought. Lots of standing buildings."

"What about the mines? And the sniper?"

"Can't see mines from here. . .I'll check for the sniper. Don't want to be exposed for too long," Dameon rolled away and went back up.

He waited for the library to come into focus. It was four stories tall, mostly rubble. He could make out some wooden planks serving as bridges to intact sections of the building. He could just discern the dirty mattress of a bed, and some boxes of ammunition. Finally, on the middle level, he saw what he was sure was the sniper.

Dameon ducked down again.

"I saw him. Too far away. I want to approach in the dark," Dameon whispered, "from north of here. I'll come up along his right side where the library wall has fallen down."

Dameon checked his rifle, "You, you should follow two or so hundred yards behind me until I get over. Wait a few minutes, then crest the hill. Wait for a shot before following. If he fires first and I don't do anything. . ." Dameon stopped, "well, you know."

"But _I_ don't know how to get to MegaTon," Chloe frowned.

"Walk east," Dameon began to walk back down the hill.

"What about the mines?"

"I'll avoid them or deactivate them."

"Won't they be buried? How are you going to know where they are?'

"In this shitty rock and sand, and with the constant wind, the mines get exposed within a day. Gotta stay off the grass or anywhere where there's thick soil. . .hey. . ."

Dameon smiled and pulled a second knife out of his boot. He handed it to Chloe.

"When I was little my father would have me go and clear mines. You can sell them, lots of caps. There's a pressure plate near the top. You need to stick the knife blade under it without pushing it down at all," Dameon motioned with his hand, "then pull straight up and it will deactivate. If you knock the pressure plate down, even a tiny bit," he thrust his hands apart, "boom."

"I'm not doing that," Chloe said, indignantly. She looked up at the sun, "your father made you do that as a child?"

"Its easiest if you have little hands."

Chloe couldn't tell if Dameon was joking, deadly serious, or if there was a hint of pain or hurt in his eyes. Dameon kept an expressionless face.

"Just follow my path after you crest. Stay out of the grass. Most of them will be around the town itself. We can meet up before we walk in. I'll. . .go first," Dameon set off.

Chapter 2: The Sniper

When the last rays of sunlight finally dipped below the horizon, Dameon crested the hilltop. He readied his rifle, adjusting the knobs on its scope. His leg began to ache again, he was running low on pain killers and jet. Hopefully, it wouldn't become infected. At least not until they made it back to MegaTon.

Dameon stared at the library. It was maybe four or five hundred yards away. He didn't see the sniper yet. Dameon sat motionless. How could he be sure the sniper would shoot on sight? Should he just kill him once he saw him or give the guy a chance to explain himself?

_Well, no one who's sane would just sit on a pile of cargo like this. Always better to be safe_.

Dameon saw a flicker of movement atop the library.

The sniper walked across a wooded plank over to a mattress. Dameon followed him with his rifle. The sniper then leaned over a bit and pulled out a bottle of alcohol. Dameon watched as he took a sip. He was still a bit too far, Dameon sure as hell couldn't miss. He began to silently slide down the hillside, inching closer and closer to the sniper, while keeping him in his crosshairs.

The sniper put down the bottle. He looked up and out into the blackness with tired brown eyes. Dameon froze. The sniper raised his gun and stared.

Chloe was just coming to the top of the hill. She hadn't even seen the town. The crest was loose and sandy. She was afraid to look over it, imagining a bullet would careen towards her skull the moment she popped up. She just peered over the edge.

Dameon was exposed. He didn't look at the sniper for fear of his scope giving his position away. He lay facedown next to some weeds. Hopefully he was far from the mines.

_Shouldn't be here_.

He felt a tingle in his spine, the feeling of being watched.

Chloe looked down at the town. In the gray light of early evening she could make out the outlines of all of the buildings and cars. It was a beautiful town. The most intact town she had ever seen. She waited for the shot Dameon had mentioned.

_This is intolerable. _

Dameon hadn't moved in several minutes. He must have been spotted. . .but no shot? Dameon couldn't be blind any longer. He rolled from his stomach onto his back. The rifle lay on his chest. He poked the barrel up, just an inch or so, above the weeds. Down the crosshairs, he could see the sniper. He was looking in Dameon's direction but didn't seem to have a beat on him.

The sniper was a grizzled old man. Dameon could see his dirty clothes and tired dark eyes. The sniper felt something too. He looked down the scope of his rifle and turned towards Dameon.

Chloe heard a shot. She couldn't tell where it had come from. She gazed on from the top of the hill.

Dameon watched the old sniper keel over and fall from the third story of the library. He stood up and held still for a moment. He then waived Chloe over.

Chapter 3: Before the Bombs Fell

Dameon and Chloe huddled in the library for the night. They didn't want to risk walking around the streets while it was dark, out of fear of stepping on an exposed, yet unseen mine. Chloe nearly collapsed on the old sniper's dirty cot. Dameon searched the ruins for the man's rifle and dug around for ammunition.

After Chloe had fallen asleep, Dameon slowly began to clear a path through the main drag of town. By the time Chloe awoke, he had disappeared into one of the houses.

Chloe blinked in the morning light and sat up on the mattress. Dameon was gone. She walked over to the third floor ledge and peered into the town looking for him. Dameon was out of sight, inside a building somewhere. He had laid down a breadcrumb trail of empty bottles down the main street for her to follow.

Chloe walked down the stairs and out onto the street. She followed the path over to one of the houses. The door was still shut, Dameon must have cleared a path without entering it. She walked up to the front steps. Beside the front door was a dusty plaque. Chloe brushed the dust off with her hand. In ornate, flower lettering the plaque read "Zane Residence."

She softly pushed the door open and walked inside. The home smelled of rust and mildew. It was a complete house, the first Chloe had ever been inside of. She turned to look at the living room. A broken TV set sat on an ancient table across from a green couch that still looked soft after all of these years. There was a bookcase – with actual books. Chloe walked over to the book case and looked at the titles.

_Cross Stitching: A Guide; Brother vs. Brother: A History of the Civil War; Romeo and Juliet; Catcher and the Rye._

Books were one of the most valuable cargo out in the desert – knowledge to educate an otherwise ignorant society.

Chloe touched her fingertips to the hard covers of the dusty tomes. In front of her was a large staircase with a poster along the wall reading "Help stomp out Communism! Enlist today!" On it, a picture of a US soldier dressed in jet black power armor stepped on the face of a cringing Chinese man.

_Patriotic mumbo jumbo_.

Upstairs were two rooms. The children's room gave Chloe morbid fascination. Two empty beds. The child on the left must have been older, the wall behind his bed was decorated with pictures of old sports cars. The bed to the right was surrounded by children's toys. A large car, an armored action figure. She looked at the action figure. Sgt. Benjamin. On the child's bed was a teddy bear. Chloe walked over to a small desk beside the bed. Inside was a sheet of notebook paper. She peered at it, multiplication tables. She tried to follow the math.

At the end of the hall was the master bedroom. Chloe saw three ancient skeletons laying jumbled together on the bed. She felt her heart sink, so sad.

_Must have wanted to be together for the very end_.

The tiniest skeleton seemed to be clutching one of the others. The bed sheet and mattress had long ago rotted away.

There were more books in the bedroom. Chloe thumbed through them and then went over to the dresser. She began searching for something new to wear. She looked to see what was hanging up. A man's suit. A dress shirt. A woman's yellow dress.

_The dress. . ._

Chloe looked at the dress.

_Same cut, same pleats, same marigold yellow. . ._

She decided to change in to the new clean dress and took off her clothes. She looked at the dirty pile and then realized there was a mirror in the bathroom.

She wanted to take a look at herself and went in. It had a deep moldy smell. Chloe looked into the bathtub. A skeleton lay crumbling next to the remains of a toaster, wired to an MF battery.

_Must have survived the bombs. _

Chloe looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She had never thought of herself as the beautiful one. Emily was prettier. . . She noticed a tear in her underwear from where Dom had grabbed her. She shuttered at the memory and put the new dress on.

The yellow dress was stiff. Chloe got a light overcoat to help with the sun and a scarf. Before she left the house she reached into the coat pocket. She felt something crisp and pulled it out. It was a photograph. The Zane family: Harold, Cindy, Dillon and Andy. She was wearing Cindy's sundress.

Chloe decided to get Dameon to come and grab the books. It was still blindingly bright outside. She paused to wait for her eyes to adjust. She then looked for the bottle trail and began to walk. After a few moments she heard something coming down the road. It was a feral dog. The beast snarled at her and licked its lips as if it could already taste her blood. Chloe looked back.

_Running could make him charge. _

The Zane house was nearby – she could make it.

The dog took off, running at her with long strides. Before it got too close, but before Chloe could begin to run, it disappeared in a violent explosion. Chloe collapsed on the ground. A wave of dust flew over her. She heard another explosion down the street and waited for the dust to settle.

"Are you okay? Are you still there?" Dameon called. He walked out of one of the houses, "Chloe?"

"Yes," she squeaked from the rubble. Dameon walked over and picked her up by one arm.

"What happened?"

"A dog tried to attack me. It must have triggered a mine," Chloe looked about herself to see if she had been injured. A shard of metal had run along her thigh, opening up a narrow, bleeding wound.

"You look fine," Dameon walked over and picked up a piece of the dog. He began to wrap it up in paper, "Dinner. . .find anything in there?"

Chloe brushed herself off, "there were some books in there. Some clothing."

"Look at these," Dameon held out his hand, "Transistors, a fission battery, and spare parts for a radio. I found some books too – one is on electronics. Some posters, some junk. I even found a titty poster hanging on one of the walls – just a bit faded."

"The people were still inside."

"Who?" Dameon looked a bit nervous.

"The people who owned the house. They were laying on the bed. . .well one was in the bathtub. It looked like he killed himself. Can you imagine what it must have been like?"

"Better than now I suppose."

"Had to have been worse right after the bombs fell. Couldn't go outside because of the fallout. Your family. . .your family is dead," a tear fell down Chloe's cheek.

Dameon furrowed his brow, confused.

"The raiders," Chloe continued, "the one who took Emily said he was going to Paradise Falls. Do you know that place?"

"Yeah, its a town for slavers. Its where they auction everyone off. Most people would only be there a day or two until they're sold. Like a weigh station for scum."

"Could you take me there?"

"Why? You think you could fetch a good price?" Dameon smiled and tucked away the dog meat.

"I have to find Emily. She's all I have left."

"I told you, its a weigh station. After these past three days and the two it would take to get there she'd be long gone. Could be anywhere by now."

"I have to find her," Chloe repeated.

"If you want to go there go ahead. Wait until we get back into MegaTon. Sell your share, buy gear, I don't care. I'm not going there . . .its a waste of time. Only thing you'll catch there is a bullet," Dameon walked away.

Chloe bit her lip. She would have to fight this battle again.

Dameon began to paint his mark onto the front door of the Zane house.

Chloe stared, "Why do you do that?"

"This? For the notoriety," he finished painting the horns and smiled at his blue insignia.

"You need the fame and the fortune?"

"Well. . .It helps to be feared. If people know who you are, they'll put up less resistance. . .I won't have to use violence. They'll know who I am before they meet me."

"Not that using violence would bother you," Chloe began to walk away.

"I guess not. . . you bother me. Like a child with all your questions."


	5. Chapter 5

**Part V: MegaTon**

Chapter 1: The Eyebot

Dameon sat down on a large rock and unwrapped one of the bloody bandages he had tied around his left leg. Pain rushed up from the burns. Chloe looked at her own wounds from the shrapnel. She watched as Dameon dug around in one of his bags and pulled out an inhaler. He put it to his lips and pressed the button, shooting a mist into his mouth. Jet.

"Can I have some of that too?" she asked.

"For what?" Dameon looked at her, annoyed.

Chloe showed Dameon the cut on her thigh. She frowned, she had shown him the wound before, back in RidgeField. It had begun to chafe as they walked clear of the town.

"That's not bad at all. Just a cut," Dameon mused, "you only take this shit if the pain is unbearable, otherwise you'll wind up just another junky . . . hanging around the trash heaps of MegaTon."

"Are we close to MegaTon then?" Chloe stared off into the southeastern sky.

"Yeah," Dameon peeled off the last layer of bandages. He then smeared an antibiotic gel onto his wounds. His face winced with pain. The wound gave off a horrible smell.

_Hopefully no gangrene. _

"What's that?" Chloe pointed to a metallic object in the distance.

Dameon motioned for her to get behind him. While sitting, he retrieved his binoculars and scanned the distance. He saw a faint, metallic glint meandering through the desert.

"An eyebot. Enclave eyebot. They were recon drones until the Enclave fell."

"Enclave?"

"Bunch of diehards. Call themselves the US government. Maybe they were. . .at some point. They used those eyebots to spread propaganda throughout the desert until they were destroyed by Vault Dweller. About... twenty years ago when they started the Jefferson purifier. The Brotherhood supposedly hunted down the last of them. Just a bunch of dead drones now, wandering aimlessly. . . like ghosts."

The eyebot sailed by off in the distance. Dameon rose to his feet, "Should be getting close. Ah ha," he scanned a far off ridgeline, "can see MegaTon now."

The pair began to walk towards MegaTon. Chloe still couldn't make out anything among the rubble and scrub. She walked briskly to keep pace with Dameon. Both were weighed down by the RidgeFeild cargo and were eager to lighten their load. As the town came into focus a large dog ran up to greet them.

"Tai, good boy," Dameon leaned down to pet the animal. Tai let out an excited bark and panted next to his master. He looked the same as when Chloe had last encountered him. A frightening and vicious yet loyal friend.

"Will they let him in MegaTon?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah, no one there messes with me," Dameon said gravely.

Chloe looked at the profile of MegaTon. It was surrounded by a high, seemingly impenetrable wall, maybe twenty feet tall, made of gray steel. Above the wall, Chloe could just make out a tall sniper tower and the tin roofs of several buildings. As she got closer to the walls she could hear the commotion of life inside, along with the cacophony of caravaners who parked outside of the front gate hawking scavenge to passers by. In front of the caravaners, on the border of the desert, was a long line of desperate looking beggars, pleading with anyone who walked too close.

Dameon stood up from petting Tai.

"There it is. Largest settlement out in the desert. Trader's paradise. Safety. Follow me," Dameon walked forwards, ignoring the numerous caravans and beggars.

Chloe made eye contact with one of them, an enfeebled looking man about forty years old with tired gray eyes.

"Please water, if you have any please. I'm dying," he choked and began to cough into the sand.

"I don't have any water," Chloe stammered.

Dameon grabbed her by the hand and pulled her away from the beggar.

"Don't waste your time, he's already dead."

Chloe scowled at Dameon, "Any other advice?"

"Don't trust the Mc, Moriarty."

They walked up to a tall robot posted as a watchman by the front gate. It scanned them for second. The robot had a bright yellow cowboy hat strapped to its metallic head and a western style jacket.

"Welcome to MegaTon, partner," the robot bellowed. The front gate creaked open.

Chapter 2: Coldest Drinks in Town

Chloe looked at the town in awe. She had heard innumerable tales of MegaTon and had pictured it to be a glittering city, a jewel in the desert. On the inside, the town was anything but. It was a collection of concentric ramshackle steel structures circling a deep bomb crater. At the bottom of the crater was a small pond with a 40 kiloton Chinese-made 'TaiPeng' nuke in the center.

A man was standing knee deep in the irradiated water, cupping it, and letting it wash through his hands. Around the crater were dozens of tin shacks. Some were small houses, other tightly packed tenements. Some were stores, as Chloe could make out from their buzzing neon signs.

_The Brass Lantern, Craterside Supply, Moriarty's Saloon, the Church of Atom._

Chloe stared on at the throngs of people ambling about the crater. Scrap peddlers and prostitutes, dusty settlers laden with cumbersome sacs, locals shuffling by oblivious to the commotion. Beggars everywhere. Some lay in the streets in a state between life and death, others sat wide eyed on steps with thousand yard stares.

As Chloe stared transfixed, a young black man in cowboy getup walked up to her and Dameon.

"Dameon. Glad to see you've come back," the man smiled.

"Thought I was gone for good, Harden?" Dameon smiled back at him, "Dad make a smart new uniform for you," Dameon laughed at the cowboy hat and flicked the bronze star on Harden's chest.

"No, had this one for a while. You know how Lucas is with his Westerns," Harden bit his lip, "He's off at a meeting now, so I'm the law. Who's she?"

Harden smiled at Chloe.

"My name is Chloe."

"Pretty name. . .I got to tell you this because I tell this to everyone new. Don't be starting any trouble in my town. Or you'll have to deal with me."

Tai growled.

"And don't hassle the residents. No begging you hear. Have enough trouble on our hands."

"You all look fat and happy," Dameon smiled and began to walk. Chloe followed while sheriff Harden looked on.

"We're going to Moira's," Dameon pointed to a shack perched high atop the crater, "Craterside supply. She'll give us the best price in town. Just. . .well,"

"Yeah?"

"She nauseates me with her smile. Doesn't matter," Dameon readjusted his backpack.

Chloe's attention wandered to the man standing next to the bomb. There was a crowd gathered around him as he baptized himself in radioactive water. She could hear him preaching.

"Behold, for this is the glory of Atom. His splendid radiance that once shone bright through the desert. A prophet for a new age, for us to behold in His glorious afterglow."

The man motioned for a gawker to step into the water with him. A dirty looking girl from the crowd stepped forward and closed her eyes. The preacher took her by the hand and led her down to the water. He scooped some of it up from the pond and let it wash over her face and hair.

Chloe cringed at the thought of the dirty water going into her eyes. She remembered the burn she had felt when Mina threw it at her. But the face of the girl in the pond betrayed no pain. She stood silent.

"Bask in his glory. Let Atom's infinite glow cleanse your soul and prepare you for the great moment of creation," the preacher continued.

"Come on," Dameon put his hand on Chloe's shoulder. They walked up to Craterside Supply.

(*********************************************************************)

"Oh, hi there," Moira beamed with a crooked smile. She was an older woman, in her forties with thick black hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. Her shop was full of various odds and ends. She peered up from a computer screen to watch Dameon stagger in with his haul.

"Hello Moira," Dameon put his bags down, "Trade? Hand picked from the desert."

Moira stood up to get a better look. Dameon pulled out some of the RidgeField haul. Electronics, a fission battery, some cigarettes.

"Wow, got a lot of stuff there," Moira rounded the front counter and watched as Dameon unloaded his bags. Chloe dropped hers and began to empty them as well.

"Thought you might like these," Dameon handed Moira one of the old books. She thumbed through the pages.

"Wow, where did you get these? Romeo and Juliet?"

"Old town, three days walk from here. Got some posters, some clothes, more tech," Dameon grabbed one of Chloe's bags, "I thought I sold this," Dameon pulled out a teddy bear. Chloe snatched it from him.

"That's mine," Chloe threw it back into her bag.

Moira sucked in her cheeks and began to do some mental math. Chloe was feeling hot and sat down on a chair.

"Let's see here. I'll give you fifty for these hats, and twenty for the shirts," Moira rifled through some of the clothes, "Ah, a pilot light. Ten for that. . ."

Chloe rested her hand on her chin.

"Are you thirsty? Could be a while to get this settled" Dameon looked to her.

"Yeah, where could I get a drink?"

Moira walked back to her computer and began inputting numbers, "Moriarty's, just up the ramp to your left as you walk outside."

Dameon handed Chloe a pack of cigarettes, "Go get a drink. I'll be over there with your share once she totals it up."

Chloe watched as Moira furiously typed in digits, "How many fission batteries did you say you have?"

"Six," Dameon dug around, "Wait. No. Eight." He looked back to Chloe who hadn't moved, "What? Go ahead. You think I'll screw you? Its too small a town," he smiled.

Chloe hesitated.

"I'll give him a receipt," Moira chimed over the counter. "How many books are you going to sell?'

Chloe walked over to Moriarty's saloon. It was spacious inside, with a large wooden bar flanked by two radios blaring music on GNR. The bartender was out for the moment. Chloe sat down on a stool next to a scruffy looking traveler, his face buried in his drink. A girl sitting at a table behind Chloe let out a sigh while reading a letter. Chloe waited patiently for a drink. Another girl, standing at the corner of the bar, next to steps, smiled to her. Chloe smiled back.

"Can I help you?"

Chloe turned to the bartender. She almost gasped. He was a ghoul, a real life ghoul. He looked like a man who had been melted, his skin sagged off the bone, drooping down in lumps and mounds. As hideous as a mutant. He talked in a dull raspy voice. His iris and pupils were bleached white. A few flakes of his dry skin sloughed onto the counter. She felt ill.

"Do you want a drink?" he mumbled in his grainy voice.

"Don't let Gob scare you," a handsome middle age man walked down from upstairs. He smiled to Chloe, "Your new in town. I can always tell a new face."

"Chloe, Chloe McGinty," Chloe smiled.

"Name's Colin Moriarty, this is my bar," Moriarty walked back behind the bar, next to Gob, "like I said, Gob's harmless. Can he get you a drink?'

"Water?" Chloe put her cigarettes on the table.

"Sure," Gob put a dirty glass on the counter and began to fill it.

"Nothing clean?" Chloe stared at the glass.

"Not for that price," Moriarty flicked open the cigarette box and put it back down, "At least forty. Nothings come in from Jefferson in a few weeks."

Chloe sipped on the glass of mildly irradiated water.

"How did you get here?" Moriarty leaned over towards her.

"I was. . ." Chloe paused, "I was scavenging. I came here to sell my cargo."

"What cargo?"

"Dameon's selling it to Moira, at Craterside Supply."

"Dameon?" Moriarty licked his thin lips, "scavenging with Dameon?"

"We met out in the desert."

"Surprised he didn't shoot you. . .or sell you," Moriarty laughed. He then pushed Gob out of his way to fetch himself a drink, "where are you staying in town then?"

"I don't know."

"Don't try the commonhouse. I can rent you a room here," Moriarty put his hand to his chin, "got an inn upstairs."

"How much?" Chloe put down her glass.

"Depends on the customer. Pretty girl like you can stay for free. Just owe me a. . .favor."

"A favor," Chloe stomach churned.

Moriarty gave a wry smile, "Nothing bad. . . maybe a discount on your future scavenge. We'd work it out."

"I told you not to trust the damn Mc," Dameon smiled at Moriarty. He walked over to the bar.

"I'm a Mc," Chloe said, looking up from her drink.

Dameon raised an eyebrow.

"My name is Chloe McGinty."

"Huh?" Dameon motioned to Gob to pay her tab, "my treat."

"She already paid," Gob wiped the counter.

"Second time huh?" Dameon sat down. He gave a bag to Chloe, "three hundred and fifty caps. Your share."

"Where's the receipt?" Chloe looked into her bag.

Dameon handed her a crumpled paper.

"This says 1,500 caps."

"I never said it was a 50/50 split," Dameon looked away.

"And I'm the one not be trusted," Moriarty laughed. "three hundred and fifty caps is a pittance," he smiled to Dameon, "I'd give you one hundred just to clean the scraps out in the back, you'd probably do a better job than Gob. If he took any longer he'd fossilize."

Gob shuttered.

"And I recall you still owe me about a hundred caps, Dameon. Care to pay me too?" Moriarty rounded the bar.

"Later," Dameon ordered a drink.

Chloe peered into her bag. She then stood up and walked outside while Moriarty and Dameon argued.

Chapter 3: Children of Atom

"Fuck Dameon," Chloe whispered to herself. She sat on a low step staring at the irradiated pond next to several tired wanderers. They all watched the preacher, transfixed as if they were watching television.

"The great prophet of Atom has heralded in this waste, this desert. He has taken the old world, ridded it of wickedness, and cleansed it with his heavenly glow. One can taste his forgiveness," he sipped the irradiated water, "It cannot harm those who believe, those who entrust themselves to Atom."

"New here?" the man sitting next to Chloe looked over at her and scratched his beard.

"Yes."

"Where from?"

"South. I lived in an old store."

"Jeff," he extended his hand for a shake, "from Canterbury."

"Who is he?" Chloe motioned towards the preacher.

"They call him Confessor Cromwell. He runs the church of Atom."

"What's the church?"

"They worship that bomb. I listen for the entertainment. Maybe one day he'll keel over from radpoisiong. I'll take your bet if you think today's the day."

Confessor Cromwell continued, "Some here, they doubt the truth of my wisdom. They cannot truly comprehend my words. But, yea, they are but blinded by Your brilliance. Deluded by their false idols. Their greed, their lust, their addictions. Such emotions man must conquer in order to bathe in Atom's radiance."

Chloe stood up and walked closer to the crowd. She watched as some of the other men and women rubbed dirty water about their bodies.

"Who is Atom?" she asked Cromwell loudly.

"Ah, a wanderer who has come to hear the true word," Cromwell motioned for Chloe to step forward. She took a small step into the pond, just enough to cover her toes.

"Who is Atom?"

"Atom is the truth. The infinite one. It was Atom who ordained the construction of such devices," Cromwell pointed to the bomb, "to bring about His great creation. At the end of the last age, they shone in a blinding glory, giving birth to countless new realities, all made in Atom's own image. The wellspring of His creation."

"People created those," Chloe murmured, "they were horrible weapons."

"Ah," Cromwell pointed to her, "that is what they want you to believe now. But it was Atom who inspired men to create such things in order to ring in His glory. The world He did away with was one of greatness. They knew how to bask in His eternal afterglow. Through the radiance of His infinite energy, they were able to sanctify these lands. From the death of their world, life could spring anew. Fire to nurture the soil."

Cromwell paused, "Today there is much greed and wickedness in this world. It is up to all of us to pave the way for Atom's great return. For Him to once again kiss the ground as He did in the past."

A breeze blew down into the crater, and Chloe put her hand into her pocket. She felt it hit something and remembered the photograph of the Zane family.

"Those people were innocent, they were all murdered," she whispered, eyes falling

Cromwell ignored her and looked up at the sky.

"For what looks to ignorant man like an act of evil destruction, is yea but the afterglow of His new great creation, a new wellspring of eternal light. . .May Atom take us too, into our salvation when He hath deemed the time has come."

Chapter 4: Desert Merchant

At nightfall Chloe followed several of the other wanderers to a large building at the back of the town. It was the 'commonhouse' a dilapidated warehouse that housed anyone in MegaTon not fortunate enough to own property. Chloe soon discovered this was most of the town. From peddlers to lowly beggars, most of the people on MegaTon's streets were not permanent residents. Only people voted in as residents could own property and purchase the town's clean water, caravanned in from the Jefferson Memorial. Outsiders had a permanent transient status. Chloe gleaned that Dameon must own a house somewhere. He wasn't a part of the nomadic throng.

The inside of the commonhouse was dank and dirty. The floor was clogged with dirty mattresses. Every square inch of the three story ramshackle building was filled with weary travelers, worthless scavenge, and the coughs of the sick. It was putrefying and Chloe almost couldn't breathe the thick air. The only bathroom in the town lay next to the commonhouse in a large outhouse that functioned as a men's and women's room. The fumes of its waste wafted under the commonhouse walls and invaded her nose. Chloe had used the bathroom earlier and smelled the aroma from her dirty cot.

Chloe threw her coat on top of her tired body. It was too filthy for her to change clothes. She didn't dare undress as she was surrounded by a mass of humanity. Both the men and women slept together. A dirty man with boils on his chest coughed near Chloe's face. She gagged and buried her nose in her coat. The mattress was hard. She clinched her bags, wondering if someone would try to steal them.

She felt someone fiddling with the back zipper of her dress. The dirty man was pulling it down.

"GET OFF ME!" she swatted him.

Chloe stood up in shock. There were angry murmurs in the room from those she had just woken up. She left the dirty commonhouse and spent the night sitting on the street, resting her head against the corrugated metal of someone's house.

(*********************************************************************)

As dawn broke over the sky, Chloe plucked a chunk of squirrel off a thin skewer. She had grabbed a seat at the Brass Lantern the moment it opened and had held her seat there ever since. The tavern was near the bottom of the crater overlooking the pond where Cromwell was beginning to preach.

Chloe's toes burned from wading into the pond the day before.

"Anything else?" a waitress smiled to Chloe.

"Not right now," she gobbled down another chunk of meat.

Chloe had spent the night considering what she was going to do to survive. Living here would be better than trying to live out in the desert. She had enough caps to last maybe a month, if nothing got stolen.

She could try to take Moriarty up on his offer of a job. She _had_ been unnerved by his demeanor. He didn't look trustworthy. . . as Dameon had said. She guessed the other girl in the bar had been a whore. She wouldn't do that. . .even if everything became intolerable.

Chloe rubbed her thigh, it had begun to burn the night before.

"Actually, do you have any jet?" Chloe sheepishly asked the waitress.

"No," she smiled, "maybe my deadbeat brother Leo does. Want me to ask?"

Chloe didn't answer. She was looking at a woman sitting at the other end of the restaurant. The woman was wearing a caravaner's outfit. A red baseball cap, army fatigues, an ammunition belt. She sipped on a glass of scotch. She was staring at Chloe.

_What does she want_?

The woman got up and walked over to Chloe.

"I'm sorry for staring," the woman began.

"Okay," Chloe said nervously.

"I have to ask. . .how on earth did you get out?"

"What do you mean?"

"Paradise Falls? I was in Crow's trade caravan. I saw them take you off to EverGreen. No one gets out of EverGreen, ever."

"Paradise Falls. . ." Chloe's mind raced.

The caravaner cocked her head, "You had different hair but. . .your dress? I remember that dress."

"My sister! You saw my sister Emily! With blond hair, and . . . my dress."

"Yes," the caravaner wavered.

Chloe pleaded, "You saw Emily! Where is she?"

"I'm sorry. They took her to EverGreen Mills. No one gets out of EverGreen," the woman looked away.

"Could you take me there? Please, I will give you everything I have."

"Listen. . . .I told you," the woman looked tired, "No one makes it out of EverGreen."

Chapter 5: My MegaTon House

Chloe jogged up to the door and began to bang on it. There was no response. She knocked on it for a few more minutes and then took a step back.

"DAMEON RAYES! DAMEON RAYES! OPEN THE DOOR!" she yelled and renewed her knocking.

Dameon cracked open the door and stared at her. He stepped outside and quickly shut the door behind himself.

"Yeah?" Dameon looked around. A bunch of MegaTon locals had taken interest in Chloe's screaming.

"I talked to a caravaner. She knows where my sister is. You have to help me get her."

"How did you find my house?"

"The sheriff told me you lived here," Chloe pointed down a ramp to Harden.

He waved sarcastically to Dameon.

"Ah. . .I'm sorry. . . have you generated an obscene amount of courage and caps since last we spoke?" Dameon stared around at the crowd.

Chloe was silent, "you're the only person here who can help me. You have to help me."

"I have to? Do you even know where the hell she is?"

"EverGreen."

Dameon shook his head, "No one makes it out of EverGreen."

"No. . . but you . . .You raided Fort Independence and killed all of the raiders in Fairfax. You can do it."

"I'm flattered, but not as difficult as it sounds. They punched themselves out on one another. And. . . honestly, I have no interest in going to Evergreen or saving your sister. . .to be honest," Dameon stared up to the sniper tower.

Chloe felt her cheeks flush. She fought it. Rage would do nothing .

"Cargo...there will be tons of cargo there. All kinds of stuff in their stronghold. You could get rich."

"I'm not _that_ greedy. Just made enough for me to settle down and live for a while. I don't need to risk getting shot for more caps."

Dameon began to go back into his house.

"Wait," Chloe said forcefully.

"What?"

"There's. . .there's something else in EverGreen."

"Raiders?" Dameon rolled his eyes.

"No. When the raiders had me. . .in that cage. I could hear them talking. They said the people in the fort attacked Fairfax looking for something."

"Yeah," Dameon lowered his gaze.

"They said a raider named Lux had it. And that he took it to EverGreen."

"H2?"

Chloe stared blankly.

"Never mind," Dameon nodded.

_Too many people around_. . .

"Want to come in?"

Chloe walked into Dameon's house. Tai sniffed her in the entrance and let out a soft yelp.

The house was full of cargo – everywhere. It had a bookshelf full of books. Racks full of dishes, silverware, and glasses. A fully stocked bar.

Chloe looked up the stairs. A jukebox blared music into the foyer. A nuka-cola machine hummed in the hall. A tool set hung on a workbench by the door. A robot floated by.

The poster of a topless blond stuffed into a tight red swimsuit Dameon had taken from RidgeFeild was tacked to a wall. A few cow skulls peered over a refrigerator.

It was the nicest place Chloe had ever seen. More fashionable then TenPenny. She had never seen so much high quality scavenge.

"My house," Dameon smiled, "You're actually my first guest. Ever. I don't let people in because if they saw how much stuff I had. . . they'd break in and steal it all when I'm gone. . .which is often."

"This is why you're always trying to get caps?" Chloe looked around in wonderment.

"Took a lot to build. A lot to maintain. I think it looks nice. I figure as long as I'm healthy enough to go out scavenging in the desert I should pull out all of the stops to guarantee a happy retirement."

"Why do you trust me enough to show me?" Chloe thought aloud.

"I don't know. I can tell you don't like me, but unlike anyone else. . .I don't think you'd steal from me."

"You haven't given me any reason to like you," Chloe mumbled.

"What? I've saved your life. . .well I don't even remember how many times. The raiders. The scorpion-"

"You didn't save me from those raiders. You came along to rob them of what they were carrying, like a raider yourself."

"The Rad-x at the Federalist-"

"I was dying," Chloe wanted to leave but had to stay, "I was dying. I would have been killed by the scorpion . . .what are you saying? I thank you, I can't thank you enough for saving my life but you haven't. . .treated me well."

Dameon sat silent. He couldn't gauge how he felt. He looked at the angry. . .no, profoundly sad girl.

_Ah well._

"No one's ever treated me well," Dameon said. His voice was low and monotone. Chloe noticed anger stirring in him. Dameon hid his emotion, "Did you hear anything else about H2 from them?"

"I told you what I heard. Whatever it was, they said he took it to EverGreen. We need to find Emily."

"I don't know much about EverGreen Mills. It's the main raider base for the snakes. There are two raider factions in the desert. The snakes and the smiles. Don't know where they got those names. . .The snakes have the desert counties, the smiles have the DC metro ruins. . .when they aren't mutant snacks. The snakes are based in EverGreen. Its an old steel plant. Below it there's supposed to be a huge market. The 'Bazaar' where all the raider crews trade whatever they've stolen."

"Trade people like my sister?"

"No. I don't think so. I don't know why'd she be there, but not to be sold," Dameon thought aloud, "would be a good place to sell that artifact."

"What do you know about it? H-whatever." Chloe asked. Her eyes looked tired.

"Nothing really. In the Fort. . .their last order was to try to locate an artifact called H2 in Fairfax. That's. . ." Dameon paused, "I guess that's why I went over to Fairfax. Nothing there though. . .as you know."

Chloe legs were twitching, too much Nuka-cola with breakfast "I have to go to the women's room. Can we go tomorrow?" she got up to walk outside.

"Uh. . .you can go here. I have an extra bedroom. There's a empty chamber pot in there. . .you know. You can use that if you want. I don't like hiking over the men's room."

Chloe nodded. She looked up and walked over to the stairs.

Dameon thought about Evergreen Mills.

_Suicide_. _Complete and utter suicide_. _One man against hundreds of thugs armed to the teeth, on their home turf. Worse than suicide_.

He felt his leg tingle. It was finally healing.

_That girl is bad luck. . .well, had gotten to Minefield. Excellent haul. Exactly why EverGreen would be such a bad move. Don't want to throw your life away for_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._nothing_?

Dameon pondered that thought for hours.


	6. Chapter 6

**Part VI: Evergreen Mills**

Chapter 1: Desert Cowboy

"Always want to be prepared," Dameon grabbed an RPG out of the weapons locker. Chloe looked down from the second floor. She tossed an empty jet inhaler into a wastebasket unnoticed.

"What should I carry?" Chloe came downstairs and fidgeted while Dameon scanned his weapons. Most of the guns looked heavy and cumbersome to Chloe.

"Here," he handed her a silenced pistol, "know how to shoot?"

"I used to shoot rats when they got in the store."

"Good for you," Dameon picked up a shotgun, "You want a grenade too? Some kind of explosive?"

"No," Chloe scanned the locker, "just a knife, and maybe. . .a mine."

"Mines are no good for what we're doing. Knife's okay. You should have something with more firepower. . .a laser pistol" he handed her the sleek weapon, "courtesy of another Outcast patrol."

Chloe grabbed the weapon and turned it in her hand. Dameon clicked the slide back and showed her how to reload it.

"Honestly you'd be best off not using anything and staying out of the action. Follow in my wake, or try to follow Tai."

Chloe nodded, "well, in case we get separated I want to be able to take care of myself."

"If I die," Dameon began, "I have a feeling I won't die alone."

Chloe nodded.

"Lets go."

(*************************************************************************)

It took nearly a day for Dameon and Chloe to reach the outskirts of EverGreen Mills. Luckily, it had been an easy hike. Chloe's leg still ached but she had been sneaking jet when Dameon wasn't watching. If he caught her, Chloe knew he'd be furious.

Evergreen Mills was a prewar steel foundry. It was located at one end of a large crescent shaped canyon, linked to the outside desert by old, abandoned rail lines. Coming up the train tracks was nearly impossible. Raiders were posted on the cliffs that ran along each side. The area was heavily mined. The raiders would be able to see Dameon and Chloe coming for miles and could rain fire down on them from above.

Dameon decided to go straight to the cliff side to see if it would be possible to repel down to the foundry. He had planned to do so at sundown, but thought it would make more sense to scope out the area in daylight. He, Chloe, and Tai crept the last few miles to EverGreen, keeping down low to avoid being spotted.

The base was nearly invisible as they approached it. Dameon would have walked off the cliff to certain death, had Tai not barked, altering him in time.

"Whoa boy," Dameon signaled for the dog to move back. It paced behind Chloe. Dameon then crawled up to the cliff edge with his sniper rifle. He looked down the scope and peered into the canyon.

The foundry was massive, as large as a stadium. It towered five stories tall, and looked old and decrepit. Although the bombs had missed it, time had left its mark by sandblasting off the paint and wearing down the metal. Scraps of curtains fluttered from the windowless windows.

The foundry was surrounded by rusting rail cars, and a mini stock yard. Raiders were patrolling atop the boxcars, and around the foundry entrance. Off to the west were a collection of shacks next to the cliff side. Off to the east was a snaking rail entrance that disappeared behind the curving cliff walls. A large gang of raiders were milling about, around a fire. Roasting rat meat sent plumes of smoke up into the sky. Dameon could hear faint muttering.

Dameon counted the raiders.

_Fifty maybe, at least fifty_.

He pivoted left.

Off nearly out of sight were six cages, a little taller than human height. Dameon scanned them for Emily. No sign of anyone in them. They looked empty and abandoned. He watched the raiders walk by on their patrol path. An electric crackle flashed on his scope. Dameon looked away from the cages, inbetween two rail cars. He stared for a minute, waiting for his eyes to adjust. He was seeing sparks from a generator working their way up to an electrified gate.

_What is that behind it?_

Dameon adjusted the scope on his rifle and peered through the gate incredulous. He slid down to Chloe.

"They've got a. . .behemoth."

Chapter 2: Behemoth

"A what?' Chloe crinkled her nose.

"A behemoth. A giant mutant. I've never seen one before. Its fucking huge!" Dameon shimmied back up to the cliff top and looked down.

The behemoth had the appearance of the mutants from the desert. Shabby, lumpy, reddish skin. Tiny eyes, a gaping, drooling mouth. However, it was about three stories tall and weighed several tons. The hulking monster looked perturbed. Dameon watched the beast with mouth agape.

_What the hell is it doing there?_

Several raiders walked by the front gate, and the beast let out a snarl that Dameon felt in his chest. The raiders taunted it, throwing rocks into its cage. The beast paced back and forth in the electrified cage. Dameon stared more closely. Inside the enclosure were the gnawed remains of two bodies. Mutants would eat almost anything. Behemoths must be no different.

"What are you going to do?" Chloe squeaked.

"Come up with a better plan," Dameon turned around, "Gone from suicide to certain death."

Dameon stared at Chloe. Tai was still pacing nervously, a few feet back.

Dameon thought for a second, "Its not . . .it doesn't look trained or anything," he mused.

"What do you mean?"

Dameon closed his eyes for a moment.

"Use it to our advantage. Set it free? The damn thing should rampage through the place –taking out most of the raiders before they can bring it down,"

Chloe nodded. She didn't like where this was going.

"I'll repel down this cliff side during the confusion. You creep over to the far cliff north of here. It's not as steep. Take my binoculars and wait for me to get down. Once I start shooting, go down to the bottom. Don't fucking go down all the way until the behemoth is dead.'

"What about Tai?" Chloe clutched her pistol.

Dameon motioned for the dog to stay back. The animal whined.

"Remember to wait for me," Dameon added, "Once everything dies down. . .if it does, meet me just inside the foundry.

Chloe nodded. She began to shuffle towards the far cliff side. Dameon settled down by the edge to prepare his shot. He would have to put a bullet right in-between the rail cars and straight into the generator. It was only a foot tall and maybe two feet wide, almost half a mile away.

He did a second check on the raiders. No one had spotted him. He looked for Chloe on the cliff side. No sign of her – well hidden.

It would take her ten minutes to make it to the other side. He waited five and then lined up his shot. If nothing else, this was going to be quite a show. Dameon squeezed the trigger. A loud shot rang out and the generator clicked off. Before the raiders could peer up at the canyon walls, the behemoth slammed its sedan-sized fists into the gate and brought it crashing to the ground.

Dameon could hear the screams of the raiders.

_No turning back. . ._

He threw down a narrow rope and slid over the canyon's edge.

(*************************************************************************)

Chloe heard the screams too. She wasn't quite at the cliff edge. She dove towards it and peered through her binoculars. It was chaos. The behemoth had stepped out of its cage and was swiping its gigantic hands at the raiders. They fired at it from every direction, red flashes of light filled the canyon and gunshots echoed off the walls.

The beast trudged on, seemingly impervious to the raiders' weapons. It swiped a gigantic paw at a raider perched atop a box car and sent him hurtling up into the sky. It brought a massive fist down on another raider pounding her into a mess. The beast let out a horrific scream and ran through the compound stomping and clawing at any raider it could see. They fled with desperate screams.

(*************************************************************************)

Dameon's hands were almost on fire. He was sure the rope was smoking. He slid down as fast as he could bear. He had another few feet to go when he stopped on a ledge. He jumped off the rope, onto the ledge, and drew his rifle. He was about ten feet off the ground and could see over the boxcars. He felt the behemoth's heavy footsteps shake the canyon walls.

"Get it! Shoot it! SHOOT IT" he heard raiders scream off in front of him.

Dameon watched a dozen raiders run out of the foundry and open fire on the beast with a heavy machinegun and a RPG. The missile arced left while the brute charged. Several raiders ran as it savaged their companions in a brutal bludgeoning. A few fled back into the foundry.

"AHHHRWAAAAHHHH!" the beast bellowed. The canyon walls shook. It grabbed a raider off a rooftop and tore him to pieces.

Dameon watched as a few more raiders formed a defensive position between the boxcars below him. He lined up his rifle and shot them from behind. The men fell, cut down by their unseen enemy. A raider far off to the left seemed to take notice. Dameon watched as the raider spotted him and fired at the cliff wall.

Dameon jumped down to the ground.

Dameon then ducked under a box car. The beast's massive footsteps knocked dirt off the undercarriage, into his face. He saw the raider who had spotted him waiving several others on to attack. They looked hesitant, afraid of the massive beast.

The behemoth was far off, limping towards a sniper on a guard tower. Dameon got up and ran around another box car. A raider ran after him.

When Dameon turned the corner, the raider was right there. Before Dameon could fire, he heard a shot. A bullet grazed his shoulder. He rushed the raider and knocked him against a box car. Dameon then drew his knife and struggled with the man. The raider tried to fend Dameon off with the butt of his weapon, his blue eyes flashing.

Dameon was too fast, pivoting and weaving. The raider lifted his gun up to bring it crashing down on Dameon's skull. Dameon slipped his hand past the raider's block and dug his knife down into his chest. The raider backed up into the boxcar and Dameon drove his knife in deeper.

"Oh shit!"

The behemoth was less than fifty feet away from Dameon, staring him down. It began to charge but was slowed by its wounds. Dameon took off into open ground with it in hot pursuit. He had never run so fast in his life.

Dameon ran about a hundred yards before stopping. He ripped the RPG off his back and aimed it at the beast as it bore down. It let out a screeching howl, its mouth frothing with deep yellow foam. He fired a rocket straight into its chest.

Chloe watched from the cliff side. She could see the beast charge Dameon. Her heart raced. She felt vertigo and nearly toppled over.

The rocket's glowing contrail arced upwards and collided with the beast. There was a loud, orange explosion followed by a mist of red blood. The hulk fell forward, body smoking.

Chloe dropped down to the canyon floor.

Dameon wiped the mess from his face. It had sprayed everywhere after impact. He heard gunshots going off towards the train tracks_._

_More coming_.

He hunkered down with the RPG.

Three raiders ran by at full speed. They ducked behind an overturned boxcar. Dameon launched a missile right into them. Back toward the entrance, in front of them, one lone raider limped down the train tracks. Tai was right on his heels, in a full sprint. He tackled the helpless raider from behind. The man screamed. Dameon finished him off.

"Good boy Tai!" Dameon ran over to his friend, "How the hell did you get here?"

Tai barked.

Dameon turned towards the tracks, "Cleared us an exit, huh?"

Tai barked again.

Chapter 3: The Bazaar

"ITS THE DEMON!" a raider cried.

She was cut down by a shot in the darkness.

Dameon leaned forward, poking his nose into the light. He had told Chloe to stay behind in the foundry while he scoped out the basement bazaar. It was still full of raiders who were oblivious to the carnage that had taken place outside.

The foundry bazaar was as large as the foundry. It was full of vendor stalls, pool tables, dancing poles, and various junk. A combination of stores, bars, and strip clubs. The lighting was dim. The raiders were scattering. Dameon fired at them from the darkness unseen.

(*************************************************************************)

Chloe looked down from the bazaar ceiling.

_Is this where they're holding Emily_?

The neon lights dazzled.

(*************************************************************************)

Dameon rounded a corner and ran towards the stalls, taking out a few more raiders as he went. He took down a man who came up on his left.

_They're on the run now. Only a few left._

Dameon came to the center of the bazaar. To his left, a merchant cowered behind his kiosk. To the right, he saw a man dressed in green clutching a brief case. Dameon swept the room with his rifle. No other hostiles.

"Who the fuck are you!" Dameon trained his gun on the merchant.

"Whoa, whoa!" the shopkeeper raised his hands up into the air, "Take it easy man. Name's Smiling Jack. I ain't got no problem with you."

"Keep your fucking hands up!" Dameon drew his pistol and trained it on him. He then turned to the other man. He was dressed in a uniform.

_An officer's uniform?_

Dameon stared at him for a moment. He had on black jack-boots, green khaki's, a button-down shirt, and a folded cap.

"Enclave?" Dameon said, incredulous.

The officer stood motionless. He had a pistol at his side, drawn but pointed at the floor. He studied Dameon's face.

"Yes. Greetings, my name is Lieutenant Constantine," the officer said gravely.

"Enclave?" Dameon dumbly repeated.

"I am a personal representative of the president's east coast division. Who are you?" the officer continued

"Demon Rayes," the merchant said softly, but loud enough for Dameon to hear.

"Certainly?" the officer dropped his pistol to the floor. His face betrayed no fear.

Dameon alternated pointing his pistol between the officer and the merchant. Finally he spoke, "I'm looking for a raider named Lux. He has my property"

"You killed him in the fray," the officer said. He pointed towards a body and while Dameon was looking away, he positioned his briefcase behind himself.

"Give me that!" Dameon motioned the officer forward.

"I'm afraid I cannot, Mr. Rayes is it?" the officer said coolly,

"My name is the end of you if you don't hand over that briefcase," Dameon pointed his gun straight at Lt. Constantine. The man blinked but didn't waiver.

Chloe climbed down the ladder and landed on the bazaar floor with a thud. No one noticed. She lay still.

"Why is the Enclave here? I didn't think you still existed, its been twenty years and nothing," said Dameon.

The officer took a step forward, "I assure you, your government has not abandoned you. We merely had to withdrawal to better positions. We will never forfeit our country. Now. . .Mr. Rayes, please take that case over there by the bar. That's the government's payment to Mr. Lux," the officer pointed to a briefcase on a nearby table, "now it legally belongs to you."

Dameon walked over to it, still wielding his pistol wildly. He clicked it open. Inside was a disassembled fat man. A small, shoulder launched nuclear weapon based on the 1950s 'Davy Crocket' personal nuclear launcher. It had been redesigned as an offensive weapon to 'liberate' Anchorage from the Chinese Red Army in 2077. Dameon couldn't believe one was within his grasp.

"Under the weapon you will find several dozen MF chargers. I understand they have quite a great deal of value. That was the arrangement for the return of government property. This briefcase here is now the property of and is under the jurisdiction and protection of the United States government," he said with conviction.

Dameon smiled, "You? You're the United States government?"

"I was sent to recover this item by the order of our President, John Henry Eden, sir. Please stand down."

Dameon laughed to himself, "Eden? The rouge A.I? The machine?"

The officer squinted his eyes. Such indignity couldn't stand, "By order of _our_ commander in chief. This is government property that does not belong to a private citizen. Stand down."

"I don't take orders from toasters! Give me the case now," Dameon put the other briefcase down and put both hands on his pistol. He walked towards the Enclave officer.

"Sir, I will not waiver in my duty as an American," the officer watched Dameon approach. His arms hung limply at his sides.

"Then you won't," Dameon put his pistol up to the man's face and fired. The officer fell to the ground. Dameon grabbed for the briefcase.

The dead officer's fingers still clutched the handle. Dameon pried them off and popped the case open. Inside was a holotape and a large glass object that looked like an oversized vial. Dameon put it in his palm. It shimmered like a prism through wavy glass. The side of the vial read H-271. He closed the case and studied the leather. It had three letters monogrammed in gold on the outside. L.O.B

"What is it?" Jack interrupted.

"None of your business," Dameon went to lift the case but it was extremely heavy. He pocketed the vial and holotape.

Dameon walked up to Jack, menacingly, "Do you have any captives here? Slaves? I'm also looking for a girl," Dameon licked his dry lips.

"The goodtime cells. Over there," Jack pointed behind him.

Dameon nodded. He kept his weapon drawn and darted over to the cells. They were behind a large bar. He kept Jack in his sights the whole time while approaching the cell doors.

Dameon walked up to the cell bars. No sign of life inside. A filthy floor. A teddy bear on a wet cot. A broken sink.

A girl clawed at him. Dameon jumped back and almost shot her. The small redhead behind the bars shot out her arms and snarled. Dameon backed away.

"Emily McGinty?"

"Arghhhhhhh," the red head spat while striking her face against the bars.

Dameon nodded. He turned and walked back to Jack.

"Not what your looking for?" Jack smiled.

"No," Dameon scanned Jack's stall.

He had a lot of good cargo.

"Let me see that cognac you have up there," Dameon pointed up to a shelf behind Jack.

Jack turned around to fetch the bottle.

BANG!

Dameon shot him in the back of the head.

Chloe cried out from the shadows. Dameon froze. Jack's body twitched on the ground.

"Who's there?" Dameon cried out, "Chloe?"

Chloe stood up, "Why? Why did you do that?"

"I told you to wait for. . ." Dameon stopped.

"Why did you?" Chloe's eyes darted, "My sister is she-"

"Don't think so," Dameon said coolly. He reached down and fished around in Jack's pockets. He pulled out a key and fiddled with a small safe under the counter.

"Where?" Chloe began.

Dameon pointed up to the bar. He then clicked Jack's safe open and helped himself to the items inside.

Chloe turned away and ran over to the cell. The red head was sitting on the floor. She snarled as Chloe approached.

"Is that her?" Dameon called up. He picked up an automatic shotgun from Jack's stall.

_Nice. Twelve round clip._

He fiddled with it and looked over at Chloe.

"Amagmmm," the red head stammered.

"She's not Emily," Chloe sounded defeated.

The girl in the cell shrieked. Chloe covered her ears from the piercing scream. Dameon was slightly bemused at her rage.

"Are you alright in there?" he called to the crazed girl.

"I don't understand." Chloe looked up towards the bazaar ceiling, "why isn't she here? Why did the caravaner tell me that?"

Dameon dug through the kiosk, "Maybe the caravaner was mistaken. Maybe she was here and now she's not. . .no way of knowing."

"Agrhmuflamana! Mprem. . . ." the red head coughed on the ground. She jumped onto the mattress in her cell and wrapped herself in a dirty bed sheet. Her face was lost in a mop of fiery hair.

Chloe sat down next to the cell. Disappointment shocked her system. It felt like jumping into freezing water. She stared at the girl in the cage.

The girl hissed at Chloe. Chloe walked back.

"Why did you-" Chloe wiped tears from her eyes.

"Don't want someone who's heard of me to know I've got the artifact."

"You want _everyone_ to know you . . you're just leaving her there, or you're going to kill her too?"

Dameon looked up, "She's just some raider."

"You're. . ." Chloe laughed in desperation, "you're just some raider!" Chloe's heart beat hard with fear, "your a psychopath and a murderer, and a thief and-"

"And what else?' Dameon sneered while walking towards her.

"People. We're people! Do you realize that! Thinking, feeling people. People don't deserve to die in a cage. People don't deserve to be shot in the FUCKING head when they trust you for a second! People don't deserve to be tormented by a-"

Dameon turned away.

_This 'rescue' is fucked. Huge haul though. Biggest by far. A goddam fatman_.

He smiled thinking about it.

"I should let her out then? She seemed pretty dangerous. Sometimes raiders haze initiates to the point of mental breakdown."

Chloe collapsed, "I'm never going to find her," she cried for a moment and then fell silent.

"You want me to-" Dameon started.

"I don't care what you do. Fucking monster," Chloe sobbed once and walked off. She was to too mentally exhausted to think or feel.

Dameon watched her go. He walked back up to the cell door.

"Guess its just you and me then, eh?" he smiled at the girl.

She spat through the bars hitting Dameon in the face. He wiped it off.

"Fucking bitch!"

"Die. . . you must. . . .I will tear you apart. . .tear you apart," she muttered from the bed.

Dameon pointed his pistol at her. He went to squeeze the trigger to put her out of her misery. He had a second thought about it. He clicked open the door with a key that had been lying in front of the cell, taunting the girl with freedom.

Instead of running out, the girl retreated. She cowered and hissed.

Dameon lowered his weapon and went back to looting.

Chapter 4: President John Henry Eden

Dameon took a drag on his cigarette breakfast. He then threw it off of the steep hill.

"You hungry?'

Chloe lay mute. She hadn't spoken to him all night. She rolled over onto her side and stared out at the desert. A low rind rustled the dry grass. Tai watched as she silently buried a small capsule in the sand with her finger.

"You could still find her," Dameon mused.

"Don't pretend that you care. You told me to my face you didn't."

Dameon squinted into the brightness.

"You got what you wanted," Chloe stood up. Her face was tired and worn.

She changed her expression, "you going to give me my tiny share of the loot," she uttered a horrible, defeated laugh. "I want to see it, I want to see what you came for."

Dameon studied her face, "The vial?"

Her eyes burned with fire, "I want to see what you killed for."

Dameon reached to his side and pulled out the green vial. It sparkled in the sun. Chloe took it from his hand. Dameon cocked his head and watched her touch its shiny surface.

"You know I came for Emily too. I wouldn't have walked into EverGreen Mills just for some mysterious fucking vial."

"Don't say her name," Chloe muttered. She handed the vial back, "your lying. . .a lying murderer," she felt numb. Her eyes were glazed.

Dameon reached into his sack and pulled out another cigarette from Jack's bag, "just a trader, maybe. . .but then what the fuck is he doing there? The things he must have seen. . ."

Chloe stood up and began to walk.

After a second, she heard a strange noise reverberating in the sky. Off towards the sun she saw a large shadow loom closer.

"Down," Dameon knocked her over.

The object hovered near them and darted away, off to the south, towards to MegaTon.

"What was that?' Chloe crawled to her feet.

"I don't know. . .more Enclave?" Dameon looked up. He scanned the horizon down the path to MegaTon. There were points of light twinkling in the desert off in the distance.

He felt a burning tingle in his side.

_More Enclave? _

He scanned the dusty horizon and could make out the whirl of an engine_. _

_Trucks?_ _Patrols?_

More verti-birds echoed over the hills.

Dameon looked east to the ruins of DC.

_Can't go back to MegaTon. . . ._


	7. Chapter 7

**Part VII: The Metro War Zone**

Chapter 1: DuPont Station

Dameon and Chloe waded through the knee deep water of the irritated stream that demarcated the boundary between the decaying DC ruins and the great desert beyond.

Tai jumped headlong into the water and eagerly swam across, just behind the two of them.

Dameon had promised to take Chloe to RivetCity, the last bastion of safety in the heart of the DC ruins. Far, far away from MegaTon.

_Hopefully still safe._

Dameon couldn't tell if Chloe cared about the journey anymore. She had retreated into her own deep eyes and seemed far away.

Her pace was slow and painful. Dameon nudged her along into the city streets with a cold stare.

The sections of the city that survived the Great War stood as a monument to the grandness and folly of that lost age. Huge golden statues and impressive busts of ancient politicians hung like gargoyles down from the porticos of Greco-Roman buildings. Decaying public art lined massive city squares. Crumbling skyscrapers towered over erratic, broken streets. Twisted steel and concrete carpeted the urban jungle like tall tropical grass. Radiation slowly seeped from ancient warheads.

It was a mutant paradise, the most direct and dangerous route through the capital.

"Come on," Dameon called back to Chloe.

Chloe was leaning against the skeleton of an old phone booth.

"I need to rest," she took some weight off of her throbbing left leg.

Dameon scanned the windows of the broken high-rises ahead. Shadows undulated in the darkness.

_What was that?_

"We can't stay here, we need cover," Dameon jogged over next to a rubble pile and trained his rifle on a far off window.

Tai began to act up. The dog growled, his ears went straight back.

Chloe looked around for any sign of danger. The street was empty and quiet. A bit off to the right, a gilded pole pointed towards a subway entrance.

"Up there," Chloe pointed towards station.

"Shhhh! Keep down!" Dameon inched forward, towards the steps of an old department store. A mannequin stared at him through its empty window.

Something metal rattled deep inside.

Chloe felt goosebumps. She took off running alongside the right sidewalk.

Dameon turned to look into the building. A trio of mutants stared back at him with hideous, beady eyes. One of the beasts threw away a torso it had gnawed to the bone. Its tongue was waiving.

"MWHEEE!"

Dameon opened fire.

There were moans up and down the street. Mutants alerted by the gunfire poured outside, jumping through windows and blindly smashing through doorways.

Chloe jumped behind a dumpster.

Dameon continued shooting the three beasts that were charging him. As he reduced them to meat, he threw down his assault rifle and pulled out Jack's shotgun.

"Get-"

There wasn't enough time for Dameon to think.

One beast bore down on him. He blew its apart.

Another leaped within inches of him, he took it down.

As he looked beyond, he saw five more take off out of a coffee shop window and begin to sprint in his direction.

Dameon gave them all he had, emptying shell after shell into the mutants. His hands shook from adrenaline. He was blinded by the gun smoke. When that wave fell, another ran out to take their place. Dameon doubled back towards the stream.

_They're endless!_

He grabbed his RPG from off of his back and sent a rocket hurdling towards the hoard.

It hit with a deafening explosion.

(**********************************************)

Chloe crawled forward before the dust settled. She could just see the subway stairs. She inched along the wall until she felt pressure on her back.

_Dameon_?

Chloe screamed as one of the red brutes grabbed her by her backpack and hoisted her into the air. She pulled on a shoulder strap and slipped out, falling to the ground. The mutant flung her bag into the sky. Everything flew out and fluttered away like chaff.

Tai jumped on the mutant and tried to dig his teeth into its arm. Its tight, rubbery flesh refused to tear. The beast grabbed Tai by the neck, bit his fur, and hurled him forwards. The dog landed with a thud but got back to its feet.

Chloe slid down an overturned car and began to crawl as fast as she could. Her face was pressed into the storm gutter; she scraped her knees on the jagged concrete.

The metro station was just a few feet away now. She was panting, her lungs ached. She ran towards the stairs so fast she tumbled down them, hitting her eye on a step.

(***********************************************)

Dameon fired wildly through the smoke. He couldn't see anything. He was breathing heavily, almost in shock. The bodies of ten mutants lay heaped around him. He saw another shadow and fired his pistol into it. There was a loud shriek. The beast continued to lumber forward.

It was a centaur. Once a bear, now a six legged, hideous mutation. Centaurs often followed mutants into battle like scavengers. It had a pinkish, hairless, fat body with a fearsome head. It menaced him with its huge jaws and dripping canines.

The beast spat a wad of irradiated spit at Dameon. Dameon fell to his knees and emptied his pistol into the centaur's face as it moaned.

(***********************************************)

"Ahhh," Chloe put her arms in front of her and tried to stand up. Her body was sore from the fall. She got to her knees and continued to pant, covered in sweat. She looked towards the end of the corridor. It was pitch black and empty. Gunfire echoed down from above.

(***********************************************)

A mutant crunched its blunt molars down on Dameon's arm. He cried out in pain and gouged the beast's eyes with his fingers. It made a howl and dropped his arm from its jaws. Dameon then slammed the butt of his rifle down on the mutant's head. It fell to the ground and he jammed his knife into its neck. Dark, purplish blood oozed out from the brute.

Dameon stood up and looked around wildly, expecting to be consumed at any moment. He could hear the groans of untold legions of mutants reverberating inside of the buildings in every direction.

_Like waking the dead. . ._

The adrenaline had worn off. His side tingled.

_Much worse than before_.

Dameon limped over to the metro entrance and leaned against the structure. Blood dripped down his sleeve. He attached a mine to the side of the entranceway and hopped down the steps.

Before reaching the bottom, Dameon pulled up his coat and his heavy shirt. The right side of his chest, where the vial had been tucked away, was bright red and blistery. It burned like fire when he touched it.

He felt sick and vomited on the stairs, dizzy from rad poisoning.

Chapter 2: Metro Central

Chloe limped down the corridor. Tai followed her silently. She came to a corner and peeked around it. She could see the profile of two men at the end of the hall. They were hunched over, squatting. She heard the viscous noise of slurping as they sucked on a puddle that had pooled on the floor.

One of the men stood up. He was a little over five feet tall and ghastly thin. White bones almost poked through his lumpy skin.

_A feral ghoul!_

Chloe leaned back and hid. The pain in her leg was unbearable.

She reached into her pocket for her last hit of jet. She sucked it in to dull the pain and fear. There were loud footsteps on the stairwell behind her.

One of the ghouls let out a scream and shuffled through the darkness towards Chloe. She fumbled for her pistol, but the ghoul was on top of her in no time. It clasped two spindly, white arms around her neck. She grabbed them and began to pry them off. The ghoul's bones began to creak from the pressure.

Tai crushed through the ghoul's left arm with his jaws.

The ghoul toppled over and Chloe shot up to her feet. The other ghoul charged towards her.

BANG! BANG!

Dameon shot the ghoul dead.

Tai continue to maul the other ghoul while Chloe stood up, wide eyed. Dameon half collapsed into the wall.

"Fucking close call out there," blood dripped down his arm. He slid down to the floor and closed his eyes.

Chloe was still out of breath. She wheezed.

Dameon reached into his coat pocket for a cigarette.

As he pulled in a drag, his eyes were drawn to the floor. A small piece of glass reflected the cigarette's bright cherry.

He picked up an empty jet capsule and looked at it as if in awe.

He closed his hand into a fist around it.

Chloe backed up, deeper into the hall, into the darkness. Her glassy eyes darted.

Before Dameon could say anything, she ran.

Instinctively, Dameon chased after her.

Chloe ran down to an iron gate that was blocking the subway platform. It was bolted shut. She banged on the steel until Dameon was right behind her.

She spun around and hit him with her fists.

"Go away!"

"Relax!" Dameon fended off her attacks. Chloe fell on her bottom and flailed her legs, kicking him.

"Get off me!" she screamed. He pinned her to the ground.

She continued to pant.

"Jet?" Dameon shook her.

"Arrg!" Chloe hit him hard in the face with her fist and tried to run off.

Dameon grabbed her again. She squeezed his arm where the mutant had bitten it and he cried out. She only got another step before he tackled her to the ground.

"You took it from my bag? You've been stealing! What the fuck did I tell you about using!"

Chloe was on her stomach. She struggled to get up.

"Where did you get this!"

"I bought it," she spat, defiantly.

Dameon allowed her to turn over.

"In MegaTon . . .for my. . .my fucking leg!" Chloe pulled her legs to her chest and kicked Dameon off. Her eyes burned with rage.

"I told you not to take that shit. Don't you know how strong it is. . .it will waste you in a few weeks! How much have you been using?"

"I need it every couple of hours. . . It burns so bad."

"You've been sneaking it the whole fucking time?" Dameon was shocked.

"I can't walk!" Chloe screamed.

The scream reverberated down the metro. An empty, hollow sound.

Chloe pulled up her dress above the thigh. Her inner thigh was a dark maroon. Veins near the surface looked black and twisted.

"I needed to find Emily. I did what I had to. I tried. . .it doesn't matter now."

Dameon was silent as he studied her wounds.

"Why didn't you fucking tell me?"

"I told you over and over. You wouldn't listen! You said it was nothing," Chloe pushed her dress down, "I can't go on anymore," she exhaled in pain, "I don't want to go on anymore."

She lay back, prone on the ground.

Dameon looked defeated. He tried to laugh. His eyes looked empty and sad. Slowly, he sat down next to Chloe in the dark tunnel. His side tingled and his stomach burned like he had eaten glass.

"Looks like we're both screwed then," he touched his blistery chest and let out a moan in pain.

Chloe looked over at him. Her eyes sparkled in the darkness.

The tunnel seemed to spin into a spiral.

"Barrows?. . .Maybe. . .the doctor. . .," Dameon's listened to water drip down onto the subway tracks, "Maybe. . .we can make it to the Underworld."

Chapter 3: The Underworld

Dameon and Chloe limped down the metro tunnels for over an hour. They leaned against each other, supporting one another's weight. Dameon kept the vial opposite Chloe, hoping she wouldn't be affected by whatever it was leaking. He had considered ditching the vial in one of the tunnels, but that wouldn't make him feel any better.

_Better be worth something after all of this_.

The tunnels were dark and wet. Drops of irradiated water splashed down into greenish yellow puddles. Dameon and Chloe could hear the murmurs of feral ghouls echo down from abandoned platforms.

Dameon looked out the metro gate onto the capital mall. He shuffled over to the door and cracked it open an inch. He poked his gun outside and looked around. The old reflective pool that ran down from the Washington Monument to the Capitol Building was now a forest of black scrub. The great obelisk to the south was still standing like a lighthouse, a pole star in a sea of fallen buildings. The dome of the Capital Building to the north had collapsed. It was nearly unrecognizable, a shadow of its former glory.

Dameon and Chloe crept out of the metro station and down the mall. Dameon scanned his surroundings for the Museum of History – home of the Underworld. He could hear the groans of mutants off in the distance, towards the Capital Building.

The museum lay a few hundred feet off to the left. A ghoul was patrolling its entrance. She had on a thick coat and a dark hood to protect her from sunlight. She fiddled with her assault rifle.

The ghoul made eye contact with Dameon and Chloe and waived them over. They shuffled towards her.

"Been a while since we've seen tourists," the ghoul said slyly.

"Two for admission then," Dameon walked by her.

Chloe stumbled along behind him.

(************************************************************)

Dameon stared at the main exhibit. Dante's Inferno. For the past two hundred years the museum had been displaying a special exhibit on the history of man's idea of heaven and hell. The large halls beyond the concession stands were clogged with statues and mosaics of various demonic and angelic folklore, along with paintings of the loneliness of purgatory.

Chloe looked up at the ceiling. It was painted with a scene of the last judgment. Angels swept down from the clouds with fiery swords, imps clawed up through the soil, grabbing the ankles of the wicked and dragging them down to hell.

Dameon grabbed her shoulder.

"Inside, there should be a doctor, Barrows."

"What is this?"

"The Underworld, city of ghouls," Dameon coughed and pushed open a huge golden door. Tai whined beside him.

"I thought you hate ghouls," Chloe leaned against the wall.

"Just come on!"

They limped into the foyer. Inside were hundreds of ghouls, as many ghouls as there were people in MegaTon. Some wore dusty suits and old casual dress; others were dressed like modern-day wanderers and settlers. They milled about in the museum's spacious halls, talking, laughing, drinking, gambling, and trading cargo.

"There are so many of them," Chloe's voice trailed off.

"You can't bring that dog in here, Demon!" a ghoul dressed as a car mechanic shuffled over to the two newcomers.

"Move, Winthrope! She needs a doctor, now!" Dameon took Chloe's hand.

"I said no dogs!"

Dameon pushed Winthrope out of the way. A crowd of ghouls peered down from an overlook. Winthrope's sagging face twisted itself into a grimace. He disappeared into a side room.

Dameon had to carry Chloe down the rest of the hall.

(************************************************************)

Barrows' 'clinic' was small and cramped. Two ghouls lay motionless on brown cots. Chloe couldn't tell if they were dead or alive. They didn't seem to be breathing.

_Are ghouls really alive anyway?_

Chloe rolled over. It felt as if someone was ringing her skull like a bell. She turned to Dameon, who was talking to Barrows.

"I haven't treated a human in a while," the doctor fumbled with an old needle.

"Well then I hope you have a good memory in that irradiated head of yours," Dameon leaned back in his chair and winced as the needle entered his arm.

"That should do it for now," The doctor tossed the needle away.

"What was that? I took Rad-X, it didn't do shit," Dameon rubbed his other arm. Barrows had stitched it up nicely.

"Rad-X is for alpha particle radiation. Easy to flush from the system. You seem to have come down with beta radiation poisoning. Quite rare actually. . .I'd be curious to know why. . ." the doctor paused in thought.

"What's the difference between them?"

"Smaller, more energetic particle. Different source."

Dameon looked at Chloe.

"Your friend isn't so lucky. I've treated her for beta poising as well. Her leg. . .it has pieces of shrapnel buried inside of the muscle. I think it has become infected, blood poising. I don't have the equipment to do the kind of surgery it would take to remove the fragments. I would amputate. . ."

Chloe closed her eyes.

"But its too close to the torso. All I can do is treat the pain."

"But I gave her antiseptic gel right after the-."

"The infection spawned internally. She needs antibiotics and surgery," the ghoul's voice was flat and dry.

Dameon tried to stand, "RivetCity. They'd have the equipment there?"

"I wouldn't know. Those Brotherhood bigots don't allow ghouls in there."

The doctor turned away from Dameon and sat down next to Chloe.

"Feeling better dear?" Barrows asked. He tried to smile but his lip muscles had long ago stiffened to chalk.

"Okay. . .the pain is better."

"You should get some rest. I can keep the infection and the swelling down. You're going to be okay. You're very lucky."

Chloe nodded. She felt tired and drifted off to sleep.

Dameon stood up and walked towards the clinic door. He brushed his hand against Chloe's hot forehead. Her eyes wiggled under their lids.

_Poor girl. Walked across the whole fucking desert for nothing_.

Dameon felt the vial burning in his pocket. He clenched it nervously. It felt like hot sand.

_Goddamnit. . .Need a drink. . ._

Chapter 4: The Ninth Circle

Dameon walked into the Ninth Circle. It had been the museum's restaurant before the war. Now it was a sprawling jet den packed with small tables and sagging chairs. Ghouls sat motionless, staring up at the ornate ceiling, drifting off in jet induced comas.

A greedy bartender smiled at his wasted patrons.

Dameon approached the bar, "Ahzrukhal, whisky. . .neat."

"Ah. . . another Demon has come to torment us in the Ninth circle?" Ahzrukhal creaked. He gave a ghoul's crooked smile and pulled a bottle off of the wall, "I never though I would see you here again. . .unless you had turned ghoul yourself."

"You're not so lucky," Dameon threw back his drink and motioned for another one.

"Ah well. Some jet to wash it back? Mentats for a clear head? Quinn just brought them in from a mutant filled pharmacy in FoggyBottom. If only I could sell to mutants. . ."

"Maybe as caps," Dameon reached into his pocket, "I thought Quinn scavenged for Carol?"

"Keeping tabs on ghoul gossip? How you've changed."

"Yeah, much more _personable_ now. How's your guard dog, Charon?" Dameon looked back to a fearsome looking ghoul who was standing guard at the back of the Ninth Circle. He clutched a silver shotgun. The tip of an RPG rocket poked over his shoulder.

"Fine, just pray I don't send him off to eliminate meddling bigots, such as yourself," Ahzrukhal slowly poured Dameon another drink.

"You're good company today. . ."

Dameon walked over to an empty table, away from the bar. The ghouls next to him might as well have been a thousand miles away. They rocked and rode the dragon with empty eyes.

Dameon pulled out the vial. Its shimmering glow mesmerized him. He traced the numbering on its side with his fingers.

"Nice piece you got there. Enclave?" a ghoul sitting by himself at a lonely table motioned to Dameon.

Dameon studied the ghoul. He wore a gray suit and tattered shoes. His white eyes weren't glassy like the others', they were pale and serious.

"A C-Canister, eh?" The stranger continued.

Dameon walked over and sat down in a chair across from the ghoul.

"You know what this is?" Dameon asked.

He handed the ghoul the green vial.

The ghoul studied it for a while. He looked at the numbering, H-271.

"Not Enclave. . .looks older," the ghoul put it back on the table.

"What did you call it?"

"A C-Canister. They were made before the war to store hazardous materials. The gas inside keeps the contents inert."

"You don't know what's in it?"

"No," the stranger pushed the vial back towards Dameon, "dangerous for a human to carry around. They used to be kept in a lead lined cases. . .radioactive."

"Yeah. . .those are pretty heavy. . . I found a holotape with it. I haven't had a chance to try it out on a terminal. . ." Dameon thought aloud.

"Hmmm," the stranger stared into the vial's green glow.

"What's your name anyway?" Dameon glanced away, "you look new to me."

"My name is Crowley," the stranger thrust out his lump of a hand to Dameon.

Dameon reluctantly shook it.

"You're Demon Rayes?"

"Wow, word gets around in ghouldom. . ." Dameon sat back, "I don't remember seeing you in the Underworld before. New ghoul?"

Crowley smiled, "No. . .no, I'm afraid. One of the originals. I was a wanderer for a while, but I've been here for many years now. I've come to know the Ninth Circle well," Crowley nodded to Ahzrukhal.

"Sorry to hear that," Dameon leaned back in his chair.

"Not all bad," Crowley sipped on a drink, "it feels nice to finally be settled."

Dameon nodded, he went to put the vial back into his bag, it burned his hand to the touch.

"Settled? What do you do here?"

"Do?" Crowley almost laughed, "there's nothing to do here except burn away what mind you have left. . . .I'm not a merchant, a gambler, or a junkie. If you'd lived as long as I have, you would also lose interest in such. . .material things. I'm just a casual observer. Nowhere for a good ghoul to go any more. What about you Mr. Rayes?"

"Came in with a girl. She needed a doctor."

"I'd expect you'd need one too after carrying that canister through the wastes. Probably poisoned both of you, wind up looking like me."

Dameon smiled, "Hope not. Wouldn't work well with the ladies. . .what about you, I've never gotten that. The rads wouldn't harm you?"

"No. They might slowly accelerate my slip into feral senility."

Dameon coughed into the thick air.

"I could hold the canister for you if you'd like. Until you can find a way to properly store it. . .or sell it."

Dameon reached for the vial.

"Haha. How trusting you are. Rest assured. It's of no real value to me," Crowley finished his drink.

"It may be to someone else," Dameon paused.

Crowley laughed, "Ghouls are not renowned traders. The only merchant who anyone bothers to dump caps on is Ahzrukhal, and he has no time for shiny curios. . .only for jet and alcohol."

"Maybe, but I went through hell getting it here."

Crowley tried to raise an eyebrow, "it is of course your decision. I thought you had genuine concern for your health . . . or for the health of that girl."

Dameon looked away. He felt a tinge of nausea. He slid Crowley the vial.

"How do I know you won't fuck me over?"

"Talk to Carol or Winthrope, they can vouch for me. . . I have nowhere to go. Ah, poor Carol. So little for her to gossip about nowadays."

"I just need to drop the girl off in Rivet City. I should be back tomorrow."

"Interesting. Best to not expose all those _people_ to it either," Crowley stuffed the vial into his coat pocket, "I will be discrete, now how much were you going to pay me to use me as a storage locker?"

(************************************************************)

Chloe slept for hours on the dirty cot. It was impossible to tell the time of day from inside of the museum, the ghouls had long ago boarded up the windows. It was now constantly illuminated by the dull hue of candles and tiny incandescent lights.

She sat up on her cot and looked around the empty clinic. She then walked out into the concourse, past a gang of lumpy men playing dice on the tile floor. She sat down on a bench and watched the game. A ghoul in an orange cap threw a handful of dice.

"Ahhh," another slapped his bony hands against his face.

Tai was panting by the front door, his tail was wagging excitedly. He patiently waited for his master to return.

"Rare to have a smooth skin wanderer around here," a female ghoul walked up to Chloe. Next to her stood a ghoul armed with a rifle.

Chloe looked away from the dice game and nodded to the ghouls. She was unnerved by the man's weapon. Unlike in the desert, everyone in the Underworld had been unarmed.

"I'm sorry, I'm used to everyone knowing me. . .my name is Carol. His name is Quinn."

"Pleased to meet you."

"I saw you come in with Dameon the other day. Any idea what he wants with us?"

"He came with me. . . I needed a doctor."

Quinn nodded to Chloe, "You came from the metro ruins?"

"Yeah?"

"Dangerous place for a human. Mutants everywhere."

"Not dangerous for ghouls?"

"No. Most stay in here but I go out whenever I can. Mutants don't bother us. They can tell. . .and we have other things to worry about. The damn Brotherhood. They shoot us on sight if we go outside. Can't tell us from ferals. . .or they don't care."

Carol watched as Dameon walked down the stairwell.

"Probably the latter," Dameon said gravely.

"Ah, leaving already?" Carol looked away, averting her eyes from Dameon.

"I need to get her to RivetCity," Dameon motioned for Chloe to come over.

"I'm happy to see you off," Carol muttered.

"Can we use the back exit? More direct path."

"It's not safe," Quinn smiled at Dameon, "I heard a lot of gunfire there this morning. The Brotherhood were falling back to the Jefferson Memorial."

"I'm sure they'll hold. We can't afford detours."

Chapter 5: Theta Company

Quinn hadn't been kidding.

As Dameon and Chloe came to the exit door they could hear carnage outside. The crack of bullets and wails of mutants reverberated on the steel door. Dameon put his hand on its cold handle. Tai readied himself for war.

"Just try to stay low. Maybe we can avoid them."

Dameon pushed open the door. Daylight cascaded in.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

A Brotherhood knight on a heavy machinegun pumped round after round towards a wave of screaming mutants from an elevated machinegun nest. He was only a few feet from the Underworld door. Dameon and Chloe froze.

They were in the center of a battle, on top of a trench that bisected the square.

Brotherhood soldiers were at the bottom of the trench and behind it, desperately giving the mutants all they had.

"Ahhhh!" the knight on the machinegun was hit with a wad of centaur saliva. It hissed and dissolved his black armor.

A mutant charged forward and swiped his head off with a huge paw.

"HOLD THEM! HOLD THEM!" another knight screamed.

Dameon shot the mutant dead; it was only a few feet away.

"Get back to the soldiers!" Dameon screamed to Chloe. He ran up to the machinegun and fired it at the approaching horde.

Dameon kept the trigger squeezed for what seemed like an eternity. Mutant after mutant fell. Brotherhood Knights began to run back to their forward positions, morale rejuvenated.

A bullet whizzed by.

Chloe hopped over a rubble pile and rolled down into the trench.

"Get down scavenger!" A knight waived for her to lay down.

"HERE THEY COME!"

Another few dozen mutants stormed the square, flanked by seven or eight centaurs. Tai charged out to try to flank them. Dameon readied the machinegun and opened fire.

The mutants began to weave around some statutes and columns that lined the area, hiding in the maze of metal and approaching from cover on both sides. The centaurs rained down acidic spit.

_Smart bastards. . .coordinating attacks now?_

Dameon continued to fire at them. Bullets ricocheted off steel and concrete as the mutants weaved their way towards him.

A deafening roar shook all of the buildings around the square.

"FALL BACK! FALL BACK!" a knight screamed. The others ditched their forward positions up by Dameon and ran back to the trench. They began to run over and out of the back of it, fleeing from the battlefield.

"COWARDS! No retreat! No retreat!" a Paladin to the left screamed.

The knight beside Chloe hesitated and then shot up and jumped over the trench. Chloe painfully climbed on top of the trench as well. She looked out to Dameon and then back to the fleeing Brotherhood company.

She tried to run, but her leg gave way.

Another mutant lumbered forward, about a hundred feet from Dameon. Tai pounced on the beast and tried to take it down.

The street began to shake from enormous footsteps. A tall column near the center of the square tumbled over from the vibration.

Dameon stepped away from the machinegun and turned to run with the Brotherhood knights. He saw Chloe casually sit down on the rubble on top of the trench, completely exposed, out in the open.

_No retreat._

"MWHHAOO!"

A behemoth came charging down one of the city streets. It stampeded into the square.

Dameon was stunned for a moment. He then ripped off his bag and emptied everything in it onto the rubble. Ammo, guns, and cargo tumbled across the rubble pile. He clawed at a long black tube.

"MWHHHAAAA!" the behemoth's giant jaws dripped gobs of foam. Its chest heaved up and down as it scanned the fleeing soldiers.

The behemoth charged forwards to a bleeding knight and crushed him with one stomp. It then turned to Tai who was still battling a mutant.

"TAIIIIII!"

The behemoth slammed its fist down on the dog and the mutant. They disappeared below its gigantic knuckles in a thunderous boom.

"TAI!" Dameon froze and watched.

The behemoth looked up at him and roared with jaws agape. Bullets bounced off its tough hide. The rest of the knights fled in a full out retreat. A tidal wave of mutants began to advance in the behemoth's wake.

Chloe continued to sit on her knees, calmly watching the monsters approach from atop the trench.

Seconds crawled by. Dameon heard gunshots pop from behind him slowly. One after another they hissed through the air and whizzed by him. The giant beast roared again. Buildings shook off dust. The mutant horde closed in.

Dameon raised his fatman and pointed it straight at the behemoth's chest.

"NUKE!" the Paladin in the rear yelled. He grabbed Chloe and threw her into the trench, jumping on top of her in his heavy armor. He pushed her face into the ground.

Dameon climbed on top of the machinegun nest. The battlefield and charging behemoth were slightly below him. A gob of acid arced across the sky and landed next to him. A splash of the spit began to dissolve his overcoat.

He squeezed the fatman's trigger.

Compressed air shot a football sized bomb into the sky. It sailed towards the giant in slow motion. It never made contact. There was a blinding flash followed by a deafening boom that cracked the streets. Dameon turned away from the blinding light, it felt like hot, metallic breath on his face. Wind blew a wall of dust over and around him.

The shockwave brought down a nearby skyscraper. All forty stories crashed to the ground. The mutants were blown to pieces, all traces of them vaporized.

The churning mushroom cloud was visible from MegaTon to TenPenny.

**A/N: Parts 8-9 will be posted shortly.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Part VIII: RivetCity**

Chapter 1: The Waters of Life

"Goddamn that was a nice one," the Paladin took off his heavy black helmet and smiled, "had my ass saved a few times, but never by such big fireworks."

Dameon was carrying Chloe on his shoulders. It was late in the afternoon. The Brotherhood squad was almost at RivetCity's dock. They marched along the highway next to the Potomac.

Chloe looked out toward the Jefferson Purifier and the sparkling river.

"Hadn't seen a nuke go off myself. Haven't even heard of one going off since Vault Dweller," the Paladin wiped his brow.

"Neither had I," Dameon continued to walk down the road.

Chloe stared at the shimmering water.

After the war, the Potomac had evaporated into a thin stream. That all changed when Vault Dweller helped the Brotherhood reclaim the Jefferson Memorial and start the water purifier. It was Vault Dweller's last act of sacrifice to return life to the desert.

However, life was slow to return. The purifier could clean thousands of gallons of water a day, but this was more than the Brotherhood could possibly transport. Without vehicles, the Brotherhood had been forced to ship all the water they had room to bottle across the desert by trade caravan. The Brotherhood had kept their promise to Vault Dweller to offer the water at no cost to all who came, and the water was free at the memorial itself and down the road in RivetCity. But once one left the DC metro, water became exorbitantly expensive from all of the dangers inherent in transporting it. Raiders would attack the caravans, mutants would ambush the men, animals would maul. By the time the water reached MegaTon it cost more caps than most wanderers could ever afford.

Since the purifier produced too much water for the Brotherhood to collect, the excess was dumped into the Potomac. In the twenty years since its activation, the stream had swelled into a large river. Wastelanders set up camp by its shores. They waded into the slightly irradiated mixture of water and sunned by its beauty, protected by the majority of the Brotherhood's forces.

Chloe watched as wanderers baptized themselves in the Potomac, praying to the spirit of Vault Dweller. Hundreds were wading in the river like the preacher in MegaTon. Some were drinking, some swimming, other whispering prayers.

At the foot of the memorial the Brotherhood had erected a statute of Vault Dweller in black marble. The settlers burned scented candles and left offerings at its feet.

A verti-bird flew by over head. The soldiers froze.

"Enclave," the Paladin whispered.

"I thought you guys wiped them out twenty years ago," Dameon watched the helicopter hover and then disappear.

"Not all of them. They had a base in a fallout shelter up in the mountains north of here. Called Raven Rock. We never managed to penetrate it, but most of them abandoned it after John Eden was exposed as an A.I.. Lyons thought there weren't more than handful of diehards left.

"Guess she was wrong."

"I don't know. Last report said Enclave have been moving in from the west where they came from. They've been scouring every town. . .must be looking for something."

Another helicopter thundered in the distance.

"Maybe they're curious about that explosion. . .hehe."

(**************************************************)

RivetCity was an enormous aircraft carrier. Before the war, it had housed thousands of trained navy soldiers and three squadrons of fighter jets, all eager to be shipped off to Asia. After the bombs fell, desperate survivors had converted the massive ship into a floating refuge for anyone brave enough to seek it out.

Currently, wanderers were playing football on the ship's open flight deck, a scavenge market was set up in the hull, and the mess hall was occupied by four wasteland cafes. The old navy bunks now supported thousands of desperate survivors seeking safety from the dangers of DC and the desert.

Dameon approached the rusting ship and walked down the gangway to the port side. Chloe climbed off of him and limped along.

"Hold it," a tall RivetCity Security officer approached the two.

"Its okay," the Brotherhood Paladin walked in front of Dameon and up to the guard, "Guy saved our ass from a mutant onslaught out there. He's cool."

"I know who he is," the guard squinted at Dameon, untrusting.

"Older I get, the more you stay the same. . .come on Harkness, she needs to go to the clinic right away. She needs surgery," Dameon fidgeted.

Harkness bit his lip. He looked back to the other security guards, "Help her in."

They helped Chloe stagger off into the ship.

Dameon went to follow her.

"I didn't say anything about you," Harkness blocked Dameon with his arm.

"I told you, he's cool," the Paladin stared blankly.

"I just need to get refitted. I'll be out of here soon," Dameon stared Harkness down.

"You're a thief. You don't get second chances," Harkness held firm.

"Come on. . .I just want to be sure she makes it."

Harkness heard the footsteps of the men helping Chloe echo inside of the ship.

"You got till morning. Leslie, watch him."

Chapter 2: The Weatherly Hotel

Dameon walked down the narrow ship halls. He leaned against the walls as the ship rocked back and forth, ruining his balance. The ship groaned. The guard posted to him followed him through the mass of people milling about.

"Where's Holmes?" Dameon looked back at the guard, "This used to be his door."

The guard stood silent. The ship's lights flickered and the boat listed to the other side. A family shuffled by.

"Are you mute? Where's Seagrave Holmes?"

"He moved to the upper deck."

"Well bully for him. . .," Dameon smiled.

Dameon walked towards the stairwell and the bridge deck. The crowds began to thin as he ascended the stairs, and at the top, the floor was carpeted and illuminated by glowing candles. It now smelled less of oil and more like seawater.

Dameon walked down the hall and checked each door for Holmes's room.

Dameon knocked on Seagrave's door once he found it. A short man peered through its port hole.

"I need to speak with you."

The man opened the door, and Dameon walked inside of his cabin. The guard went to follow but Dameon blocked him.

"In private," Dameon added.

"I'm not waiting out-"

"It's okay. It's okay," the short man waived to the guard.

"I was told to-"

"I'm not going to steal anything," Dameon sniffed, "Seagrave and I go way back."

The guard was flustered, "DO NOT be long."

Dameon shut the door and turned to his friend.

"What's happening. Been a looooong time, four years now?" Seagrave sat down in an office chair next to his humming, personal computer.

"What's with the new place, Holmes? How can you afford all of this?"

"Business here is up with the Brotherhood and all. More demand for someone computer literate."

"I see."

"What about you?" Seagrave smiled, "Still a hell raiser?"

"If it calls for it. I got a job for you."

Seagrave nodded. He grabbed a glass of water and took a shallow sip.

Dameon pulled out the data diskette from EverGreen, "I want to know what's on this."

"Sure bud," Seagrave took the disk from Dameon and popped it into his terminal. A loading screen came up and then a gray bar flashed.

_Encrypted._

"Huh, let me see what this is about," Seagrave typed furiously on the console. Dameon paced around the room. The computer beeped.

"It's not a government lock. It's a proprietary encryption, that's rare."

Dameon raised an eyebrow, "Can you unscramble it?"

"Me? No. The _computer_ can by quantum code breaking. Could take a few minutes or several hours depending on the encryption level and if it has to reconstruct any of the data."

Dameon bit his lip, "That long?"

"Did it come with any other disk? Maybe a code I could enter or something?"

"Came as is. . .wait, try H-271."

Seagrave nodded and punched the keys. He shook his head.

The guard knocked on the door.

"Pain in the ass. . ." Dameon brushed his stubbly cheek.

"I got a hot date tonight anyway. Check back in the morning. It'll be done by then," Seagrave patted Dameon on the back.

"Fine, don't. . .don't tell anybody about it. I want to know what's on it first."

"Not a problem my man. You know. . .," Seagrave pasued, "gonna cost you a lot of caps."

"I got em. . ."

(**************************************************)

Dameon sipped on his third scotch. The guard posted to him fidgeted in the corner. The crowd at the Muddy Rudder was boisterous. A woman flashed her naked breasts to a settler sitting next to her. He started giggling.

"She did it! She did it!" he laughed while buying her a shot of vodka.

"What does she do for fifty caps?" another man hollered.

"Hey!" she blushed and started to laugh.

Dameon looked up and away, into the smoky air. He thought about Chloe and the subway tunnel. Her flashing eyes, her bright dress, her matted hair. She looked like a wild animal.

_How the hell does she keep going through all of this? Stronger than me. . ._

"Heard that fucking explosion all the way out here! You gave em hell didn't you!" A gruff man swiped Dameon on the back with a paw. His smiled beamed.

"Gave em hell," Dameon finished his drink.

"Fucking mutants," the man smiled.

Dameon held up his empty glass for the bartender.

"Don't remember me?" the man looked mildly bothered.

"Uh. . .you're. . .Flak?"

"Yeah!" a large grin returned to Flak's face.

"Been a while. . . and I'm under the weather," Dameon watched the bartender fill his glass.

"Well I hope anyone would remember Flak & Shrapnel. Most memorable name for a gun store around."

"Uh huh."

"Yeah, I remember you. I sold you like. . .a. . .US Stinger missile a few years back. For a patriot handheld."

"Yeah, yeah," Dameon nodded. He remembered using it on a squad of Talon Company bounty hunters.

"I always remember my guns. Always. Damn, those Stingers were fun."

"To big explosions," Dameon raised the dregs of his drink.

"Haha, hell yeah!" Flak raised a drink and they toasted.

Dameon then turned back to the bar.

"That's what I live for."

"Huh?"

"The explosions. Guns. Seeing one of those fuckers go off is like giving birth to a child."

Dameon stared at Flak, unnerved.

"I. . .uh, wanted to tell you. . .I got something bigger."

"What?" Dameon blinked.

"You still got the fatman?" Flak's eyes looked excited.

"Sure. . ."

"You know Vault Dweller used a fatman to liberate Jefferson from those Enclave pricks?"

"Yeah, at least in the stories."

"No no, not stories. I was there back in 2277. . .I procured some of the mininukes that had been. . .misplaced during the battle."

Dameon smiled and lit a cigarette. The guard watched on, annoyed. He couldn't hear them over the raucous crowd.

"Really?"

"Sure. . .sure. problem for me is, I live here on this boat. Harkness and the Brotherhood would be pretty ticked if they found out I had em. Kind of a hazard I guess. I'd love to set em off myself and watch em torch the sky. But, I'm too old to go out wandering in the desert. . .and with the fucking Enclave everywhere. . ."

"That _is_ a problem."

"Yeah, see what I mean. . .?"

(**************************************************)

Dameon checked on Chloe before he went to sleep. She had been sedated after her surgery. She looked comfortable on the clinic bed, eyes closed with a half smile.

Dameon sat down beside her bed. She whined in her sleep and tossed and turned. He was silent. He looked at a chart her doctor had filled out.

Young female patient. Five foot five. 16-19. Name: McGinty. Blood poisoning through internal infection. Shrapnel removed. Vitals normal. Fever manageable. Swelling will take several days to subside. Rads elevated – Harkness concerned about contamination.

Dameon stayed by her side for several hours, nodding off every now and then.

Throughout the night there was rumbling and banging on the upper decks that sounded like thunder.

Chapter 3: Dr. Ashley Simmons

"Wake up."

Dameon opened his eyes. Harkness and a trio of armed Brotherhood knights were standing by his bed.

Dameon sat up and wiped his face, "Why are _they_ here? RivetCity's now Brotherhood territory?"

"The Enclave strafed the deck last night. They're looking for you . . .and the girl," Harkness was deadly serious. His face was like stone.

"The Enclave are here?"

"Not yet," one of the knights said sternly. She had fair skin and long blond hair that draped over the jointed shoulders of her power armor. Her face had almost chiseled features. A narrow nose, big green eyes, and thin red lips. She had a queen's presence. The other knights seemed to follow her lead in awe.

"You are?"

"General Sarah Lyons," she made a half salute.

Dameon was unimpressed. He turned to Harkness. Harkness looked to Lyons.

"We need to talk to you," one of the other knights said gravely. That knight had a morose face and a red scar bisecting his neck.

"About what?" Dameon stood up.

"Seagrave tipped us off about the data diskette you gave him. He was able to crack it."

"He ratted me out to you?" Dameon clenched his fists.

"He decided he'd like to keep his cabin on the upper deck," Harkness quipped.

"Do you know what was on that disk?" Dusk stepped forward.

Dameon didn't say anything.

"Captain Dusk, enlighten him," Lyons motioned with her hand to the knight.

Dusk pulled out a small laptop and inserted the diskette into it. A loading bar flashed on the screen. Then, the image of an attractive red headed woman appeared on the monitor. She looked in her late forties. She wore a white and red lab coat and thin rimmed glasses.

"We could only salvage pieces of four entries," Dusk hit play.

Entry 1: January 15, 2077

- _Unintelligible_-

"Vault-Tech continues to use viruses for their R&D on ID-8 Alpha contract. I think their over-reliance on viral vectors is shortsighted, based solely on the Pentagon funding they have amassed through the development of viral weaponry.

The key here is to use bacteria. It was bacteria, the stromatolytes, that had the power to create the oxygen we breathe. They would able to bring about systemic biosphere alterations in a relatively short period of time. They can reproduce and multiply at an astounding rate, without the necessity of breeding in, or feeding off of a host. Their spores are hardy and resistant to damage by radiation. . . . Eventually, their natural numbers would decrease as their food source is consumed; a 'half-life' of their own.

Life is the answer.

Entry 2: April 9: 2077

- _Unintelligible_-

The concept of having bacteria 'consume' radiation is silly. Nothing can 'eat' radiation. I doubt the board grasps my vision. We must develop a sample that can harness radiation as a source of chemical energy for its metabolic processes. If it can, the sample wouldn't need mass release, it would spread from the point source outwards . . . We just need to develop a strain that can more effectively bond to the source. . .like a bacterial crust in the desert or a mat in the ocean. . ."

Entry 12: June 2, 2077

_-Unintelligible_-

"The project continues smoothly. We have developed batch H-271. This line has been hybridized with the plasmids of all previous four groups. It is remarkably effective. Over time, the specimen will cover a contaminated surface forming a viscous film. Within hours this hardens to a chalky paste, and then a hard crust which expands to a thickness of containment. Nearly no contamination escapes the crust. Our projection is that the prototype will be able to contain the contaminant indefinitely until the source fully decays. In a liquid environment, the specimen binds with contaminants, causing them to percolate. It has the ability to neutralize the after effects of a 'TaiPeng' 1 within twelve hours.

Entry 15: October 1, 2077

_-Unintelligible_-

"Inherent instability has been noted after multiple generations. This was not entirely unexpected with such an adaptive life form. As much as new analysis is needed, the board has ordered a temporary project halt due to the Chinese situation. The project is packed up to be evacuated if the need arises. I hope they are as considerate to the project staff.

The monitor clicked off.

"That's it?" Dameon was puzzled, "the fuck was that?"

"The diskette was highly degraded," Dusk said, irritated.

"Care to tell us what you know about the sample?" Lyons tapped her foot.

"Nothing. I found that diskette while I was out scavenging," Dameon reached into his pocket for a cigarette.

"What about the bacteria it's talking about. Did you bring _that_ onto my ship?" Harkness sounded furious.

"No."

Lyons studied Dameon's face for a moment, "we planted a mole with the Enclave at Raven Rock sometime ago. He told us that they acquired some Outcast intelligence. It tipped them off about a weapon called H-271. They've been combing the desert for it."

"Really?" Dameon tried to sound incredulous. Inside, his stomach churned.

"They know you have it," Dusk added, "and they seem to know you're here."

"How?"

"Unsure. . .maybe they found out a way to follow the specimen. It could leave some kind of trail."

"Its not on me," Dameon thought aloud.

"Maybe they were tipped off by the mushroom cloud," Lyons squinted. She leaned over to another knight and whispered something to him.

"Maybe."

"Where is the sample now? Tell us," Lyons ordered Dameon with a firm tone.

"What do you want with it?'

"Twenty years ago the Enclave tried to introduce a virus into the Jefferson Purifier. It was synthesized from prewar research on using viruses to create more adaptive soldiers. . .only their virus was designed to kill anything with those mutations."

Dusk chimed in, "I studied the virus for the Brotherhood, it was based on a Vault-Tech designer retrovirus called tetrogeneic specularum simplex. Now called FEV."

"The mutant virus? The one that made those things?"

"Yes. Its a tetragenic mutagen. It causes copying errors within DNA, making it repeat sequences. These occur naturally. . . you get six legged frogs or two headed cows. . .the synthetic retrovirus can introduce these mutations into developed hosts. We fear the Enclave wants _this_ sample to. . .manipulate it."

"The short of it is, we don't want the Enclave messing around with another bio weapon." Lyons reached down to her side for her pistol.

Dameon slowly put his hand on his rear holster.

"It's not F.E.V., but as the disk indicates, it's unstable. It could be just as dangerous. We need to contain the sample and study it immediately," Dusk added.

"Sounds pretty dangerous," Dameon nodded, "I'll let you know if I find it."

"I said we know you have it," Lyons's patience had run out.

Dameon glanced over to Harkness, "search me if you want. I'm clean."

Harkness motioned for a security guard to come forward. The woman approached, clutching a little silver device. It began to click furiously.

"You aren't clean of rads," Dusk smiled.

"Neither was the girl," Harkness spat.

"Fuck you, I'm not telling you anything."

Harkness looked to Lyons "Go ahead."

"Arrest him," she ordered.

Harkness motioned to the security guards, "get rid of that girl too."

Dameon shot up to his feet, everyone inched back. Lyons drew a rifle. The other Brotherhood soldiers raised their weapons. There were too many of them, and too many security officers for Dameon to try anything.

Dameon coolly sat back down on his bed, "Come on Harkness, that's not you. She never did anything. She'll need days to recover. She can't roam around the city alone, she's a kid. She can't even walk!"

"Surgery's over. The doctor said she's emitting some kind of weird radiation. I don't care what it is. She and you have endangered everyone on this ship. You could have been exposed to whatever that sample is. You're both out, now!"

"Her entire family is dead. There's nowhere for her to go."

"I don't care. I have everyone else on this ship to think of. You fucked her over, that's your problem."

"Wait," Lyons sniffed. Harkness paused, "tell us where the sample is and we'll take care of her. We'll take her to the Citadel. She can heal there."

Dameon nodded, "You'll take me there too. Till the Enclave get out of here."

Chapter 4: Purgatorio

Chloe sipped on a glass of cool water. It tasted like heaven and gave her the strength to sit up in her bed. She put the glass down on a table and listened to the hum of a radio.

Dameon walked into the room. Chloe lazily waived to him.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm full of drugs. I can't feel anything. . .They said I should heal within two or three days."

Dameon nodded, his eyes looked nervous.

"Thank you for taking me here."

Dameon winced. Chloe squinted at him.

_Something is wrong._

"What?"

"They. . .they aren't allowing you to stay."

Chloe lay back on the bed, staring up at Dameon, blankly, "Because. . .because of you?"

Dameon paused, "Yeah. Because of me. I'm. . .I'm sorry. I don't know how you fell into this. I mean-"

Chloe shook her head, "I pay for your crimes. . ."

"They think the Enclave is after us. They've been trying to get to this ship."

"What do they want with me?"

Dameon shrugged. He walked over to the table.

_Better if she knows nothing. . ._

"How. . .there's nowhere for me to go. . . I can't even. . ."

"The Brotherhood will protect us. I promised to give them the vial."

"I don't really trust them. Who are they?"

"Old military. Survived in the shelters. I don't trust them either. Can't go to MegaTon, can't stay here. Enclave everywhere else. They agreed to take you to their refuge inside the Pentagon."

Several Brotherhood soldiers walked into the room. Lyons came in behind them. She was talking into a headset, but quickly looked up at Dameon.

"Well?" Lyons was in a hurry, "The Enclave are advancing into the metro right now."

"She can't walk. Can you get her crutches or something?"

Lyons nodded. One of the soldiers darted away to get them.

"You have all of your things? Your bag, the caps, that bear?" Dameon looked around the room.

"I lost everything. A mutant grabbed my bag."

Dameon looked to Lyons.

"Now for your half of the bargain," Lyons smiled, "Where's the sample?"

"I gave it to someone."

"Who?"

"A ghoul."

"A fucking ghoul!" Dusk cried out from the doorway.

"Yeah. . .a fucking ghoul. His name is Crowley."

"Great," Lyons clutched her weapon.

(**************************************************)

The Brotherhood column darted one by one up the street. They were three dozen strong. Lyons was in the lead. Dameon followed, helping Chloe along.

Lyons motioned for all of them to stop. She looked around a column and down the capital mall. Off near the Museum of History, a lone ghoul sentury scanned the area. Lyons turned back and walked over to Dameon.

"You said this ghoul will just give it back?"

"I paid him to hold onto the vial for me."

"Why not hold onto it yourself?"

"The beta rads made me sick. He could hold it while I found out what it was."

"Fine. You go in and get it. She'll," Lyons pointed to Chloe, "she'll stay here until you return. If you aren't back soon, I'm ordering an assault on the underworld."

"Don't worry," Dameon fixed his coat and began to casually walk up the mall.

Lyons turned back to her soldiers. Chloe was in the middle of their formation.

"What do we do if he doesn't come back?" Dusk whispered to Lyons.

"We still have her."

"You really think Demon Rayes will give a shit?"

"Cared enough to take us here."

"Maybe just to give us the slip."

Lyons stared at Chloe. Her yellow dress was tattered and spattered with blood. Her skin was caked in dirt and her hair was ugly and scraggly.

"He left the vial in there?" Lyons asked her.

"He had it when he took me there," Chloe said.

"Why the fuck would he go to the underworld anyway? I thought they all hated him for murdering those ghouls camped out under TenPenny," Dusk peered towards the museum.

Chloe looked confused, "I don't know. I needed a doctor."

"Why does he care about you?" Lyons said softly.

Chloe almost blushed.

_Why does he care about me?_

"Why wouldn't he?" Chloe pulled on a knot in her hair.

"Cause he's a piece of shit," Dusk snarled.

(**************************************************)

The knights were out of sight from the Underworld sentury. Dameon walked over to her, casually. She nodded.

"No sly comment?" Dameon looked to her.

She didn't respond.

_Hope she didn't see those soldiers_.

Dameon walked into the museum.

As Dameon entered, he saw Ahzrukhal, Carol, and Winthrope standing in a line in front of him. He stopped in his tracks.

"I didn't know the Underworld had a. . .a council or anything. You always seemed too desperate to have a government," he smiled.

"We are the ones most respected," Ahzrukhal said.

"Alright. . .where's Crowley? I need to speak with him," Dameon said.

"We know why you are here," Carol said in her dry raspy voice.

"Well, that it makes it simple. Where's my. . .for lack of a better term 'item'"

"We cannot allow you to have it, Demon," Winthrope took a step forward.

"You can't?"

"Do you even know what it does?" Ahzrukhal coughed into his hand.

"Do you?" Dameon said, confused.

"It will kill us all," Carol whispered, "but you wouldn't care. Would you?"

Dameon was dumbstruck, "Fuck you. I don't shoot you on sight like the Brotherhood. I may not like you but I respect you. I came here to do business. . .that's all. That was my property, I told Crowley to hold it for me. Now I need it back. . .Nobody knows what that thing will do. It's unstable."

"And what do you intend to do with it? Give it to the Brotherhood?" Ahzrukhal asked.

"Its mine, not theirs."

"You always did hate us, Demon."

"No, you're just. . .," Dameon pulled out a cigarette, "where the fuck is Crowley?"

"Right here," Crowley walked into the atrium.

Dameon watched him casually approach "Do you have it?"

"No."

"Well I think you can guess what I ask next." Dameon frowned.

Crowley took his time answering, "You unscrambled the data disk?"

"Yeah."

"Then you know."

"Enough, just get where you're going."

"I used to work for a company called L.O.B.," Crowley coughed.

"Haven't heard of them," Dameon smiled.

"We were Vault-Tech's main competitor before the war. Always fighting for military procurement projects. The US Government preferred Vault-Tech, they had already turned over billions of dollars to them to build those pointless vaults. Money buys influence. The government considered Vault-Tech to be the true 'American' company. We were foreign owned, not patriotic enough for the talking heads. As the government turned off the money spigot, the company hemorrhaged. I heard rumors that the board and the C.E.O. made up their budget shortfall by getting investments from the Chinese."

"At least the war wiped out corporate greed," Dameon mused.

"Well, apparently it all hit the fan a day before the bombs fell. The FBI raided L.O.B. The Chinese, an informant, someone tipped off management. They were able to hide some of the R&D projects off site before the FBI could get their hands on them. I was the security chief for L.O.B.'s DC office. A ghoul named Michael Masters was one of their lead scientists."

"On the H2 project?"

"No. There were a lot of projects. H2 was one of many, always in competition with Vault-Tech. In 2077 the military put out the specifications for a new contract. It was for a nuclear reclamation device to be used in case of war. . .so we'd have some hope afterwards if the Chinese were stupid enough to strike first. Vault-Tech and that ass, Braun, constructed the G.E.C.K. . .as I heard the damn thing never worked. L.O.B. scientist, Dr. Simmons, created our prototype model, H-271. A radiation neutralizing bacteria. I don't understand how it works...I didn't actually know what the project was until I talked to Masters about the sample you gave me. He told me everything he knew; he had thought it lost to the war. As he explained it, the bacteria somehow bind to radiation, neutralizing its effects. It would spread rapidly upon release, like a plague. . . suffocating anything that needs rads to survive."

"Anything. . . like you?"

"All of us," Crowley brushed his chin and looked to the others, "thousands upon thousands of us."

"What did you do with the sample?"

The ghouls stood silent.

Dameon ran his hand through his hair, "there is a battalion of Brotherhood soldiers outside. If I don't get back soon. . .or if I tell them that you refuse to talk. . .They will kill all of you long before that bacteria ever could."

Carol shut her eyes, "It's not here. We gave the sample to Quinn."

Dameon nodded, "why. . .why not just destroy it, if you're so worried about its release?"

Carol continued, "Masters warned us that if we tried to burn or destroy the sample we could inadvertently release it. It was developed to be very hardy. We thought it would be safest to hide it somewhere where you, the Brotherhood, or the Enclave couldn't find it."

"Any hints?"

"We have told you enough, Demon. We may be unable to stop you from here, but we will not aide you in murder," Winthrope spat.

"I don't intend to release it."

"I believe you will," Ahzrukhal looked grave, "You are greed and hate. A desert cancer. . . murdering his ancestors. . .to let children inherit the earth. . ." he trailed off.

(**************************************************)

Lyons stared at her watch. It had almost been an hour. She turned back to Chloe, who was lying on some rubble while biting into an apple.

"What?" Chloe asked innocently.

Lyons peered around the corner and watched as Dameon returned. He shuffled closer with a grimace on his face.

"I take it they didn't give it to you."

"They hid it somewhere," Dameon said.

"Any leads?" Lyons looked annoyed. She considered storming into the Underworld anyway.

"Not really."

"Maybe we can track it. . .if we know where to look," Dusk scurried up to them.

"How?" Lyons turned back.

"You. . ." Dusk motioned to Dameon, "you said that it emits beta radiation. Those rads stuck to you and her from carrying the thing. They must stick to the ground too. If we know where the sample is generally, we could follow the rad trail. Probably how the Enclave followed you into the city."

Dameon nodded.

_Makes sense. But where to start?_

"We can track it with a Geiger, but we'd have to be close already. Less than a mile away."

Dameon thought aloud, "I gave it to them yesterday afternoon. Hasn't been a whole day yet. . .they had to find out what it was and decide what to do. . .maybe half a day's walk from here?"

Lyons waived for her soldiers to form up. They huddled around.

Dameon continued, "They would take it somewhere difficult for us to go. . .somewhere five or so miles away, radioactive, mutant heavy, probably with underground access ghouls could use. . ."

All were silent for a moment.

"The Anchorage Memorial," Lyons said loudly, "It would be ideal. The outside is crawling with mutants, the inside is a maze that connects to the metro. It's highly irradiated. Perfect spot."

Dameon nodded. "Makes a lot of sense."

"How can we be sure?" a knight began.

"We can't."

"Only going to get one shot."

"What do _you_ think?" Lyons turned to Dameon.

"Like I said. It makes sense. What about us?"

Lyons thought for a second, "I said we would take you two to the Citadel when you gave us the sample. We don't have it yet."

"Yeah, but the memorial's pretty far from-"

"Our deal holds. Fall out. We're going to take Anchorage," Lyons motioned to her team.

Dameon shook his head. "Stamp out communism," he muttered.

"What?" Chloe's eyes perked up.

"Liberate Anchorage. . .God bless the fucking U.S.A.!"


	9. Chapter 9

**Part IX: Anchorage Memorial**

Chapter 1: Sins of the Fathers

A verti-bird whined over head. Dameon scanned the ruins of the memorial for any sign of the scavenger.

_Quinn is experienced at this. If he's still out here, he'll be well hidden. _

Dameon took down his rifle from the rubble wall and crept down the memorial's side.

Construction on the Anchorage memorial had ceased in October 2077, less than a month after the city's 'liberation' from the Chinese Red Army. The central wall and statutes were supposed to be imposing and grand. A lush garden with idling paths was supposed to meander out from the center of the monument and end in a vast commercialscape of quaint shops and high-rise villas. There was to be a vast underground complex with connections to the subway and airport.

Most of the work lay half complete 220 years later. The central statues looked out over a concrete landscape scarred by long, deep trenches. These all convened at a central land bridge that connected the monument to the city beyond. It was a large white square, protruding out into the tidal bay with a high-rise umbilical chord.

_Ideal spot? Ideal trap._

Dameon held his breath and searched the ruins for any sign of Quinn.

The Brotherhood had left to sweep the tunnels for the ghoul. Dusk had said the rad trail led underground. Dameon thought he knew better. There were lots of rads around. Quinn liked being outside, it was his passion. He couldn't give up scavenging even if it meant UV blindness.

Chloe was sitting near the bottom of a trench. Lyons and a few of the Brotherhood commanding officers were next to her. She looked at their armor and then back up at the sky. Another vertibird whined overhead.

A loudspeaker on the helicopter began to blare.

"Attention! Attention! This area is under United States control. Vacate at once!"

A Brotherhood knight shot a rocket up towards the vertibird. The helicopter banked sharply right and screeched off into the city.

_Enclave can sniff that thing out like dogs. . ._

Dameon bit his lip. He looked around at what he could see of the memorial. All of the Brotherhood knights were low, down below in the tunnels, or in the dirt trenches.

Dameon looked up. He scanned the wall of buildings off in the distance.

He peered down his scope. Something red bobbed up and down behind a broken window, maybe half a mile off. He adjusted the zoom. He saw the dark outline of someone shuffling. The figure was incredibly far away. Little more than a speck on the optical sight.

_Quinn? A bad day for you if it is. . ._

Dameon thought of the imposing figure of the ancient man.

He squinted and stared for another moment. He took a shot. The figure fell.

(******************************************************)

Dameon searched through Quinn's dirty pockets.

_Just a bunch of junk. _

He turned over the ghoul's body and felt something metallic near his boot. He pulled out the vial.

_Let the children inherit the earth. . . _

Dameon pocketed the vial and crept back.

(******************************************************)

"You hear that?" Lyons looked up from a map.

The other knights climbed up to the top of the trench and peered over the barricade.

"I don't hear-" the knights fell silent. There was a dull rumble off in the distance that sounded like thunder.

Chloe heard it too. It turned into a crackling.

"They must be here. The Enclave mustn't be more than a mile or two off," Lyons peered out.

The knights began to sweat.

"Get all squads to the surface and seal the tunnel. We're gonna have to hold them off from here," she ordered. The other knights saluted and broke out like automatons. They set up heavy machine guns and turrets along the trench tops for the battle to come.

Dameon jumped down into the trench. Dusk's Geiger counter went berserk. All the Brotherhood and Chloe turned to him.

"You have it then?" Lyons looked elated.

Dameon was sweating heavily.

"Yeah, found it a bit off. Chloe come here."

Chloe went to stand up. She grabbed a crutch. One of the knights blocked her and looked to Lyons.

"Give it to me." Lyons held out her hand.

"That wasn't the deal," Dameon said smugly, "I'm not back yet."

"Yes it was. The vial for-"

"Chloe, come here!" Dameon pulled the vial out from his pocket.

The knight let her limp over to him. He tossed the vial to Lyons, who had to leap forward to keep it from falling to the concrete.

Dameon helped Chloe off, carrying her around the trench and up a fallen wall. He could see far out onto the memorial plateau.

"I'm going to take you to a Pulaski shelter. Over there," Dameon pointed to a cylindrical tube.

The Pulaski shelters had been designed as a PR stunt for Vault-Tech before the war. They were small, phone booth sized tubes that any DC dweller could walk into in the event of a nuclear attack. Once you entered and pressed a button, the steel room would slide a foot or so underground, leaving you protected from the fallout around you.

_In theory._

"Here," Dameon hit the button. The door opened up. There was an ancient skeleton inside.

"I can hear them coming. Hide in here until everything's over."

Chloe looked into the tiny shelter and at the bony body.

"You're going to wait it all out in here," Dameon nudged her and pointed into the narrow tube.

Chloe stared blankly. She had always been claustrophobic. She thought of the raider cage.

"What about you?" she asked nervously.

"I fight," he grabbed his gun, "Come on. Get in there now."

Chloe couldn't decide which option was better, but she may have a chance of surviving a few more hours inside the shelter. She stepped inside.

"If I die in here, promise me you'll find my sister." Chloe said gravely.

Dameon shook his head, "No. . .I die before you. You're going to have to find her."

The shelter door slid shut and the tube went slightly underground. Dameon watched it disappear. He looked at a statute standing next to it. A US soldier succumbing to a Chinese bayonet. The unfinished torsos of other bronze warriors stood around him. The bay lapped at the shore a few feet back. Dameon pretended he was stone for a moment and then walked back to the Brotherhood soldiers.

"You're really going to try and hold here?" Dameon slid down to the command post.

"I thought you had left," Lyons didn't look over. Dusk looked pale.

"Nowhere to go. This place is a trap. One way in, one way out. Unless you're good at swimming," Dameon smiled.

Lyons looked back and over to the hurried defensive works the Brotherhood had been able to erect in under half an hour. The auto turrets scanned the perimeter.

"If you want to stay and help I'm sure we'll need it. But I have more important things to do," Lyons turned back to her soldiers.

"Just wanted to share a plan B."

"What's that?" Dusk asked.

Dameon pulled a mininuke out of his coat pocket.

"Another nuke?' Dusk watched as Dameon palmed the green warhead..

"A present from Flak," Dameon reached down and started to dig a small hole in the sand.

"That will take out all of us," Dusk looked around, "most of our line will vaporized."

"Yeah," Dameon dropped the mininuke in the hole, "It's not a first line of defense. It's for your last stand."

Lyons bit her lip, "To prevent the Enclave from capturing the sample?"

Dameon nodded.

"That could release it," Dusk mused.

"You said it yourself, it will vaporize anything here. If only the ghouls had these lying around. . ."

"Destroy the sample? It could help save us. . ." Dusk turned to his commander.

"As much as I'd like to save the world. . ." Dameon began.

"The Enclave cannot have it. If it comes to that I'll blow it," Lyons ordered.

"Give me the sample; I'll bury it with it." Dameon smiled.

"I'm going to hold onto it. Take that," Lyons pointed to a grenade launcher resting on a nearby crate.

Dameon picked it up.

"I do appreciate the help," Lyons added.

"I expect to be paid if we make it."

Lyons nodded. The soldiers listened to the rumbling draw closer.

"I like to be on a long leash. . .I'm going to get a better position," Dameon motioned to his long sniper rifle.

Lyons waived him off. Before he was out of sight, she called over to him, "tell me, how did you get that ridiculous nickname? 'Demon' Rayes?"

". .my dad never taught me how to spell. Was how I tagged my name. . ."

Lyons smiled.

Dameon snuck out of sight from the soldiers. He silently buried five mininukes in a semi circle around the memorial, unnoticed. As he covered the last one with dirt, he listened to the bay water crash up against the memorial steps.

_Comes down to it, __**I'll**__ blow it. _

He thumbed a detonator.

Chapter 2: The Red Army

Everything was eerily silent. Dameon hunkered down in his makeshift sniper nest, crosshairs trained on the complex by the memorial entrance. Lyons and her soldiers were dug in slightly behind him. Chloe was hiding by the back of the memorial, near the water's edge. Verti-birds hummed over the building tops. The air was so thick it was difficult to breathe.

BOOM!

A huge explosion blew a trench into a crater . A few brotherhood soldiers flew into the air.

BOOM!

Another explosion went off harmlessly near by. It was followed by another. Huge clouds of dirt and dust flew upwards into the sky.

"MORTARS!" A knight screamed. They hunkered down in the trenches. Dameon was glad to be away from the main group. Dirt continued to rain down.

As the bombs fell, the knights began to hear a low rumbling that turned into a loud groan. Slowly, hundreds of red mutants began to advance from the city towards the memorial. It was a tidal wave of the brutes, flanked by packs of centaurs. They advanced together like an army.

In thirty years of battle, Lyons had never seen anything like it.

"What are they doing?" She was stunned.

Dusk poked over the trench top, "God. . ."

"Cut them down!"

The Brotherhood opened fire on the advancing torrent. Dameon held back, wanting to save ammo.

The front wave of mutants were less than half a mile off. The auto turrets and machinegunners began to open fire. The front line faltered. They were ripped to shreds by the wall of lead the knights poured down.

Still they continued. Smoke filled the no man's land.

The mortars began to fall more accurately. One blew apart a turret. Another an entrenched RPG. A mortar fell next to the command post.

Dameon could hear the soldiers scream.

_Who the fuck is on those mortars?_

Dameon heard a shrill crack. A knight fell back into his trench, dead.

_Snipers?_

That first crack was followed by another. Then another. Soon the whole memorial erupted into deafening gunfire. The mortars continued to rain down. It was chaos up and down the trenches.

Dameon frantically swept the memorial plateau with his scope. The mutants were getting closer, off to his right. Behind them, perched in the windows of the buildings, he could see the shadowy figures of men shuffling in the darkness.

_Ghouls leading them?_

Before Dameon could do anything a sniper's bullet kicked a wad of dust into his eye. He fell back into the trench. Another bullet ricocheted off the top of the trench and hit the dirt below. Dameon began to crawl back towards the Brotherhood soldiers.

"To the right! To the right!" Lyons was screaming over the gun shots. Bullets ripped by her head, cutting down an armored man to her left. A commander in front of her caught hot lead under his eye. A mortar shell blew apart another machine gun emplacement.

The horde of mutants was closing in.

Lyons drew her rifle. The officers prepared for their stand.

"Careful!" a knight on a machinegun called back. He was barely holding back the mutant horde. One dove forward and snapped at his neck with gaping jaws.

Dameon weaved through the trenches. He paused every now and then to take pot shots at the ghouls in the buildings.

_Goddamn spotters!_

One collapsed dead. The ghoul tumbled out of a window and crumpled to the ground. Another ghoul took his place. Dameon killed him as well. He could see a few begin to run across the no man's land and jump into the Brotherhood trenches. He opened fire from afar and tore them apart.

Dameon began to jog back to the command post, ducking down the whole time.

Lyons and her men were giving it their all. They had stopped the first two waves of mutants; her snipers had eliminated half of the ghouls in the far towers. Now a large force was coming up and flanking them.

Tracers arced over head. The buildings began to rumble. Knights with RPGs ran up to the front line.

Something hot bit into Lyon's side.

"GET DOWN!" an officer screamed. He dove at Lyons and was cut apart by a shotgun blast. As he fell to the ground, the others fired on the advancing foes. A group of ghouls fired back with rifles and then retreated into another trench.

The two columns of soldiers exchanged fire over the trench tops. The mortars rained down close to Lyon's men.

A fearsome ghoul with an RPG scampered up to the trench top. His white eyes glistened.

"RPG! RPG!"

Charon aimed the rocket straight at the group of officers and fired. They disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Lyons was blown backwards into the rubble.

Charon hopped down into the trench. He tore at the dead knights looking for the vial.

Lyons lay on her side next to Dusk. A wall of dust obscured Charon from their view. As Dusk tried to stand Charon shot him in the back with his rifle. Dusk kneeled on the ground.

"Ghoul piece of shit!" he spat.

Charon raised his rifle to finish him off. A shot tore through the ghoul's shoulder. He stumbled back.

Dameon rounded the trench's sharp corner and sprayed Charon with his assault rifle. The ghoul retreated out of sight. Dameon ran by Lyons and Dusk and pursued him like a rabid dog.

Lyons tried to stand as Dameon rounded the other side of the trench.

Dameon saw Charon try to corner around a column and emptied half a clip into his back. The ghoul spun around in the rubble.

There were heavy, ground shaking foot steps. The mortars stopped falling.

"Line up! Line up! Incoming!" Dusk shouted to everyone still left.

Dameon ran back to Lyons and the rest of the company.

The footsteps grew closer.

"Got anymore of those nukes?" Dusk shouted to him.

"No!"

"Then we're fucked!"

Two gigantic, red behemoths charged out into the square. Behind them was another massive wave of mutants flanked by fifty or sixty armed ghouls.

_A mutant army._

"Give them everything we've got!" Lyons commanded over the chaos.

"Where are they coming from?" a knight screamed.

_The whole city. . ._

The mutants and behemoths advanced. The ghouls behind began to rain down fire on the Brotherhood. Knights scaled the trench walls, rifles and RPGs ready.

Dameon clutched his grenade launcher.

"NOW!" a knight cried.

Rockets arced over the trenches towards the mutant army. The ghouls in the rear responded with a rocket volley of their own. Red con trails filled the sky. The glow of tracer lines carpeted the battlefield. The Brotherhood fired with every heavy weapon they had.

Two RPG rounds smashed into the face of one of the behemoths. Its head was blown apart and its massive body fell backwards, crushing a dozen mutants below. Another column of brutes was blown to bits by an explosion. The surviving behemoth smashed apart the last gun emplacement and bit the knight posted to it in half.

A mutant squad broke into a trench, and the soldiers and mutants fought in hand to hand combat.

Dameon jumped over a high wall and fired a grenade into a mass of ghoul soldiers. They disappeared in a flash.

The trench he was in shook.

"Oh shi-!" Dameon ran. An enormous hand came crashing down into the trench. It clawed at the sides. Dameon fell backwards and watched it flail. The behemoth lowered its head into the trench and peered at him with beady, empty eyes.

"BWAAAAA!" its breath smelled like rotting meat.

A rocket slammed into the monster's shoulder. It cried out in agony as flames singed its ugly face.

Dameon pivoted and fired a grenade at its massive leg. The explosion sheared it off at the knee and red blood sprayed out. The beast collapsed into the trench with a groan.

The Brotherhood soldiers that remained gave the rest of the horde everything they had. The mutants and ghouls fell in droves. The battle raged for half an hour. Lead filled the trenches and the open plateau.

Finally, the memorial fell silent under a blanket of smoke.

Chapter 3: Sons of Autumn

Chloe was hyperventilating in the cramped shelter. She squatted over the skeleton. She couldn't see it in the darkness but could feel the dry bones on her feet.

_Cindy. . . the children. . ._

She clutched the picture in her pocket.

(******************************************************)

Lyons struggled to get to her feet. Shrapnel was lodged in her side. Dusk helped her up from the dry dirt.

"Status?" she coughed.

"We're at 30% and low on ammo," Dusk scanned the trenches.

A huge explosion blew up the ground a few hundred yards away. The soldiers were so used to the noise they didn't flinch.

Dameon jogged over, "that's no mortar."

Another large bomb fell.

Artillery shells began to turn the memorial into a moonscape. Everything exposed was reduced to tiny bits. The shelling continued for several minutes before ending in an eerie post battle silence.

No one moved.

Dameon tried to see if anything had landed near the statutes by the shelter.

All was covered in smoke.

"What the fuck was that!" Dusk was exasperated, "The mutants? The ghouls? The-"

An explosion went off in the adjacent trench. Dirt poured down.

Dameon thought he was deaf from the shockwave. After a moment, he heard a crackling voice echo out from a bullhorn across the monument.

"ATTENTION! This is the United States Military. You are hereby ordered by our President John Henry Eden to stand down at once and turn over government property!"

The few remaining knights hollered obscenities back.

Lyons clutched the vial defiantly.

"Stand down at once or you will be neutralized," the voice continued in monotone.

"Fuck you!" a knight screamed back.

"We have been authorized to use lethal force if you do not turn over the artifact. There will be no more warnings!"

The loudspeaker crackled off.

All of the soldiers held their breath.

Dameon readied his grenade launcher.

_Only a few rounds left. . ._

A mechanical whine began to shake the trench walls. It grew louder and louder into something like a scream. Large black outlines began to advance from the smoke. The Brotherhood soldiers began to fire.

Seven enormous centipede-like machines darted across the rubble on shiny metallic legs. They glowed in the sun.

"What the-"

One of the centipedes fired a missile at a group of soldiers. They disappeared in an instant. Another metallic insect opened fire with a Gatling gun. Bullets blew apart the trench walls.

The centipedes broke into a charge and tore apart any soldiers that got in front of them with rasping, giant steel mandibles.

Dusk was panicked. He flailed around looking for another weapon.

Lyons limped over to the few supplies that were left. She struggled to unwrap a RPG with her bleeding fingers.

A centipede peered into the trench with cold green eyes. Dusk hurled three grenades at its head. They bounced off its steel hide and exploded harmlessly in front of it.

Lyons turned away and tried to run down the trench. The mechanical monster shot her thirty times in the back.

Dameon was dazed. He darted up and down the trenches. A centipede slithered after him. Its metallic legs ended in tiny points, allowing it to slide silently across the battlefield like a ghost. Another centipede cut Dameon off. It rose up like a cobra, towering over Dameon with a metallic whine.

Dameon jumped away, stuck a mine to one of its legs, and rolled down into a trench before it went off.

Dozens of the centipede's legs were blown off but the machine continued pursuit.

Lyons coughed up blood. She was deafened from all of the gunfire. Dusk was out of sight. She painfully pulled out the vial and held it in her hand.

Its green glow reflected off her tired eyes.

"Oooo," she groaned and held her side.

A rocket shot over and took down one of the mechanical insects. A few knights advanced before being cut apart by another centipede. It opened fire and ripped them to pieces with a torrent of lead.

Lyons pulled out her detonator. The device almost slipped out of her bloody hand. She took a last look around at the carnage. She could feel a centipede moving closer, the hair on her neck stood up. She closed her eyes and pushed the detonator button.

Nothing happened. She pushed it again.

_A dud! But -_

A centipede careened over the trench. A giant silver mandible went straight through Lyons' armor and impaled her to the wall. Before the beast could tear her in half, Dameon fired a grenade right into its gaping mouth.

The insect's metallic head exploded in a shower of sparks and metal bits.

Dameon panted. One of the machines had shot him in the arm and neck. He clutched the wounds and limped over to the dead brotherhood general.

He grabbed the vial from her dead fingers.

"No!" Dusk jumped down the side of the trench. He stumbled after Dameon, "Give it to me!"

Another centipede grasped the last surviving knight in its jaws. The soldier pulled the pins from his grenade belt and let out a scream as the machine crushed him. The insect and soldier were blown apart by the ensuing explosion.

Dameon and Dusk ducked from the blast.

"It's mine!" Dameon shouted.

Dusk went to attack but a bullet brought him down. The last centipede lumbered over the trench wall. Dameon emptied the grenade launcher into it.

It collapsed and hissed.

Dameon crawled atop the trench and began to limp towards the bay.

The wind swirled.

"HALT!" an authoritative voice shouted.

Dameon turned around. He was completely out in the open, next to the bronze statutes. He lowered his gun and stared.

A company of Enclave soldiers dressed in heavy, green power armor began to advance through the smoke.

"Citizen! Surrender the artifact at once!" one of the Enclave soldiers yelled. The others readied their rifles.

Dameon stood still where he was, like an immovable rock. The unfinished bronze soldiers next to him his only allies.

The Enclave halted and trained their guns on him from about five hundred yards away. They formed a long phalanx.

Dameon almost laughed. Blood poured down his arm.

"By the authority of the president-" an Enclave soldier began.

"_He's_ not even a person!" Dameon slipped the vial into his pocket. He looked back to the shelter.

"He _is_ the one most fit to lead. He will reclaim this desert for our country. He is _your_ president. Your country orders you to surrender the artifact. Do so at once. . .."

Dameon closed his eyes. He thought of Chloe.

"Tell him to come get it," Dameon lit a cigarette. He took a long drag.

A bullet tore into his chest. He collapsed onto his knees.

Dameon slowly raised his bloody hands into the air. He looked up to the sky. The sun was just beginning to set. White wisps of clouds looked like a spine arching across a pink sky.

He pressed the detonator.

A blinding flash the likes of which the desert had not seen in centuries burned the monument to cinders. Metal, concrete, glass, and dirt were kicked miles up into the sky. An entire battalion of crack Enclave troops and synthetics were reduced to ash and dust in an instant.

The shelter glowed red and then white hot from the heat.

Chloe screamed as the walls began to melt and drip. The hot air burned her lungs and suffocated her. A huge wind ripped off the shelter roof and nuclear fallout rained down. The pressure blew out her ear drums.

She screamed into the roar and her skin began to melt from the radiation.

When the wind began to die down, she crawled to the surface. Her skin was still bubbling, her hair smoking. She was burning in the blinding afterglow.

Dameon was there too. A smoking hulk, he bobbed up and down in the boiling tidal bay. Screaming, he collapsed onto the ground next to her, his coat on fire from the radiation.

The two lay dying on the ground. Radiation made the concrete hiss and blacktop boil.

Dameon turned to Chloe.

She was screaming, dress smoking, hair almost on fire.

Dameon's own hand was shaking violently; he felt blood streaming down his nose, and the sky closing in from above.

As his last act, he picked up the vial and smashed it to pieces on the ground.

**Afterward**

The Wellspring: The Walking Disease

Brotherhood of Steel – Intelligence Report: Tidal Bay Estuary

From: Paladin Kodiak

To: Citadel Command

Re: Maryland Patrol Routes

Commander,

I was dispatched two months ago to investigate reports of raider incursions south of the Potomac River National Preserve. Upon arrival, all known raider factions along the river bank had already been neutralized.

At all of these locations, the men and I were shocked to see native plant life flourishing by the water's edge. Scientific officers noted the re-emergence of several species of grass, algae, saplings, and bushes with edible berries. We have enclosed samples of this flora for further study.

No explanation has been discovered to account for these findings. Strangely, these areas seem devoid of any background, fallout radiation. We spoke with the few native wanderers we could locate. None of them was certain how long such flora had been in the area, or what had happened to the hostiles.

Commander Glade, however, did report speaking to a very old settler. He stated that a few months prior, he had seen a pretty girl and a disfigured older man wandering along the river bank. They camped out near his homestead until sunrise and left without saying a word, heading south towards Virginia. Supposedly, they came from where the raiders had been camped. According to the old man, a few days later, the desert bloomed with flowers in their wake. He preached a lot of religious mumbo jumbo to the new initiates. I believe the report is unreliable.

Please advise on future course of action – if any.

Paladin Arnold H. Kodiak, DC Brotherhood Command January 22, 2297

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**A/N: Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this story check out my others including:**

**Child of Atom 2: The Raptors of Ronto**

**- and-**

**Lords of the Pitt**


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